Volcanoes are one of the most destructive, beautiful and awe-inspiring natural events that occur on Earth. A volcano is a rupture in the Earth’s crust, where the subsurface pressure causes magma, ash and gas to escape. Eruptions are generally defined as red or gray, where red eruptions feature lava freely flowing from a volcano, while gray eruptions feature exploding rock, ash and gas being propelled into the sky. Capturing photographs of erupting volcanoes is incredibly dangerous, particularly in gray eruptions where pyroclastic flows can travel several hundred miles per hour. Volcanic eruptions are relatively frequent, with red eruptions in the Hawaiian islands occurring constantly. Gray eruptions are rarer, but tend to be far more devastating to life on this planet. The supervolcanic eruption at Lake Toba, between 69,000 and 77,000 years ago, resulted in the reduction of the human population to possibly only several thousand breeding pairs.
This post showcases 40 breathtaking volcano photographs, captured by a handful of talented photographers who braved the power of the volcano to show them to the world. Featuring photographs from the Associated Press, NASA, the USGS, and freelance photographers, this collection will leave you stunned.
All photographs are properly linked to the photographer’s home page, so if you’re craving more, be sure to visit each photographer’s portfolio. Thanks to all the photographers who managed to capture these brilliant photographs.









































The forces of nature in all their splendor! I especially like the one via Carlos Gutierrez with the lightning in the cloud.
Yeah, that’s the Chaiten volcano in South America…It was almost an iconic shot from 2008 (I think), saw it on the Big Picture, National Geographic and a bunch of other places.
amazing Photographs you sharing with the nature reactions, this is beautiful in pictures but painful in reality when most of peoples lost many things.
Great shots… I appreciate the photographers who took such close up shots of these volcanoes. Really cool …. er.. I mean, hot!! 😀
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WOW – these are intense – It must take alot of patience to wait 2- 3 thousand years for these photo opportunities ; )
cheers Eric
wow, amazing photographs. Personally I loved that 4th one of Martin Rietze. Thank you so much brother for sharing this. 🙂 Waiting for next post…
Keep up doing a great job! Nice showcase 🙂
…. these are incredible photographs, my congratulations to all the photographers !! My congrats to you too Brukhar for this collection you have here for the rest of us to see !! If I was photographing volcano’s…. I’d have to have a telescoping lens about 3 foot long to feel safe during my photo expedition !! 🙂
Oh, my, Love it! The one with the northern lights especially, how luck and good was that photographer.
Yeah, that was one of my personal favorites. Just wish there was a higher resolution version of it on the artist’s page.
Amazing! Loved the images specially the one via V.K. Tyler! Looks like The Lord of The Rings, don’t know why. o.O
Wow! Loved #9
Congratulations!
Great compilation. Thanks for inspiring. Keep it going.
Wow to the last image with a lightning struck down to the center of the volcano 😀
wow!!!!!!! those are really pretty pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!