The UK Daily Mail has just published an online essay with many behind the scenes photographs and excerpts from the making of my new short film Ghosts of the Arctic. 
Time has raced past and I now find myself about to head back to the airport in a couple of hours time for the long haul flights up to Norway and then onto Svalbard at 78º North for my summer Polar Bear expedition. Svalbard has become one my absolute favourite places in the world to visit and photograph and I find myself yearning to return whenever I have to leave and itching to get underway whenever an opportunity to visit or a new expedition approaches. There is something about the primordial landscape and environment in this region of the Arctic that I find incredibly haunting. It is a landscape that speaks to me on many levels and is now a place I consider very much my home away from home. I simply cannot wait to return.
I am packing a little bit differently to previous expeditions I have lead to Svalbard in recent years. For the first time I am taking an underwater housing with me (along with a custom made pole-cam system). It is my hope that there will be opportunities to photograph Walrus (and Polar Bears) with the system at some point during the expedition (although you never know as every expedition is different). The underwater housing requires its own dedicated and somewhat large pelican case (which has to be checked) so this has cut down somewhat on the amount of other equipment I would normally pack on this sort of expedition. Where as I have in the past packed both my 600mm F4L MKII as well as the 200-400mm F4L; this time I will take only the 200-400mm and will leave the bulkier 600mm F4L MKII at home.
Gura Gear Bataflae 32L Camera Bag (Carry on Luggage)
See you in Svalbard!
www.WILDNATUREPHOTOTRAVEL.com 