The Icelandic town of Vestmannaeyjer is dwarfed by the erupting Eldfell volcano, which formed suddenly on the eastern edge of the city in January 1973.
Eldfell destroyed much of Vestmannaeyjer and prompted the evacuation of the entire island of Heimaey. Today, Vestmannaeyjar is once again the premier fishing port in Iceland, and townspeople have planted grass on the lower slopes of the now-silent volcanic cone.
Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "A Village Fights for Its Life," July 1973, National Geographic magazine
