In 1996, photographer Laszlo Kestay documented a lava field in Hawaii that later earned the nickname "Gates of Hell." At first glance, it doesn't look like a landscape so much as something half-formed and then left to harden mid-motion. The cooling lava has frozen into dense, tangled shapes that people often say look like bodies caught in collapse.
You can see some of Kestay's photos of the Gates of Hell here. The photos have a supernatural feel and look like a haunting work of art at first glance. The lava looks this way due to it cooling unevenly, folding, and cracking as it loses heat and settles.
What I love about these photos is how they sit in that strange space where nature and imagination overlap. I can't stop my brain from trying to turn the lava into something alive. The lava pit at the bottom of the photo makes the name "Gates of Hell" a perfect fit.
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