Month: October 2012

Chamonix France – A Glass of Wine, Cable Release and Deck Chair

Posted in France, Landscape Photographs, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Very occasionally a situation presents itself where I can make a photograph I am really pleased with from the side of the road, or some other easily accessible location. More often than that not however I have to travel, walk and hike to get the image I am after – Nature rarely serves up the scene on a platter; you have to get out there and hunt for it.

Whilst in France a couple of months ago I was able to make a photograph that was under the most civilised of circumstances. I was fortunate to get a room with a rear balcony at my hotel in Chamonix and immediately noted the wonderful view across the mountain range and the angle of the setting sun. Tired from driving all day my wife and I unpacked, opened a bottle of Burgundy, tore a piece off a fresh baguette with some cheese and pulled up a couple of deck chairs to watch the sunset over the alps. As we sipped our wine the light continued to get better and better so I scurried inside, grabbed my camera, tripod  and cable release and set it up next to my deck chair. With the sun setting and cable release in hand I clicked the shutter between drinks and nibbles. Looking back on it I cant recall a more civilised photography session and as such this photograph of the Alps from Chamonix is my photograph of the month for November.

Whoops! We Disappeared for a While There!

Posted in News and Updates, UncategorizedLeave a comment

It appears as though my blog was offline and unavailable for the last two days as a result of an unanticipated problem that arose during some planned website updates. You may have noticed that posts to my blog have been a little thin of late and that is because I have been working very hard on some major updates to my primary website at www.jholko.com including an update from V5. to V6. Live-books. An upgrade to V6. was required to facilitate some visual text enhancements to my site and improve its overall performance. Unfortunately, during the update the CNAME pointing to my wordpress.com blog went missing and was not restored. As such my blog at http://blog.jholko.com was offline and inaccessible. It took some time to find the cause of the problem and then additional time was wasted because of the time delay between when I discovered the exact problem and when my DNS Provider could resolve the CNAME correctly. Hopefully this should not occur again and my sincere apologies for the down-time.

With the cat out of the bag in relation to website updates it is probably a good time to announce that I am close to finalising some changes and updates to my website at www.jholko.com that will see a brand new user interface for workshops and expeditions as well as the ability to request a booking online. Once this new update is live I will be moving all the workshop and expedition information from my blog over to my primary website. I will continue to make workshop and expedition announcements and updates here on my blog; but the content for each trip (including detailed itinerary and PDF booking forms) will now be hosted at www.jholko.com. The new interface is slick, clean and really easy to navigate and I hope makes for a really enjoyable web experience. I will post here on my blog as soon as this update is live.

I have also made quite a number of under the hood and small visual refinements to my website and those upgrades are currently ongoing. They are going to include a brand new and dynamic home page and a really cool and slick testimonials page amongst other improvements. Stay tuned and keep an eye on www.jholko.com over the coming weeks.

I am working on some new images from Chamonix in France at the moment and I hope to have these posted to my blog over the coming days.

PhotoPlus in New York – Print on Display

Posted in Iceland, Landscape Photographs, Media, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized1 Comment

If you are headed to New York City for PhotoPlus Expo this week  at the Javits Center be sure to stop past the Moab and Legion Paper stand where Moab are going to be displaying one of my large prints from Iceland ‘Selfoss under Storm‘ along with Prints from the other Moab Masters. The photograph I chose for the show this year is one of my favourites from my 2010 Iceland trip and was taken at Selfoss Waterfall, just upstream from Dettifoss where glacial meltwater thunders through a martian like canyon. It is an amazing location and one I am very much looking forward to re-visiting on my summer workshop in July next year.

‘THE JEWELS OF THE ARCTIC’ EXPEDITION : 5th – 18th of AUGUST 2013 BOOKINGS OPEN

Posted in Arctic, Landscape Photographs, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized, Wildlife Photographs, Workshops and ExpeditionsLeave a comment

Bookings are now open for the new 14 day / 13 night photographic expedition I am leading to the Arctic in August next year – The ‘Jewels of the Arctic’. This dedicated photographic expedition departs on the 5th of August 2013 and docks on the 18th of August. The trip will set sail from Longyearbyen in Svalbard and will be taking in the very best of Spitsbergen and Greenland before docking in Isafjordur in Iceland. A connecting flight will then take you to Keflavik International airport for connecting flights home.

This expedition will combine the very best of Spitsbergen and Greenland with a taste of Iceland and has been structured to provide the best possible photographic opportunities. Spitsbergen’s rugged northwest coast comprises mountains, tundra and fjords. Greenland’s remote east coast shows off the immensity of the icecap, fantastic icebergs and massive granite spires rising over 1000 metres above the fjords.

This expedition offers a complete Arctic experience for photography: tundra walks amidst reindeer and exquisite dwarf vegetation, zodiac cruises  near calving glacier fronts, hikes to breathtaking mountain vistas and warm welcomes into indigenous communities. We will likely see and photograph Polar Bears, Reindeer, Arctic Foxes, Walrus, Glaciers, icebergs and more. It is going to be a truly spectacular photographic trip for a very limited number of photographers aboard an ice hardened expedition class ship.The expedition is for a strictly limited number of 50 participants plus leaders and expedition guide. Whilst many trips to the Arctic take 100+ tourists this expedition is capped at a maximum of 50 dedicated photographers in order to ensure the best possible experience and photographic opportunities. We will be using an ice hardened expedition ship with a highly experienced crew in order to ensure we can get as close as possible to big ice and place you in the best locations for making photographs. Our expedition ship the ‘Polar Pioneer’ is equipped with sufficient zodiacs and crew for all photographers to be shooting simultaneously with plenty of room to spare for camera equipment.

There will be informal talks and image reviews and plenty of opportunity for one-on-one instruction for those who wish it throughout the length of the trip. As well as informal side by side shooting from the deck of the ship, on zodiac and during shore landings there will be lots of opportunity to discuss all aspects of photography and image making with like-minded individuals. If the idea of photographing the stunning Arctic landscape and amazing wildlife is appealing then now is the time to secure your place.

PRICE

Prices quoted are in Australian Dollars, per person, twin share. Single Occupancy is 1.7 times the twin share price. No single supplement applies if you are willing to share your cabin (triple and twin cabins only).  Deposit to secure your place is $1,250 AUD with balance not due until 90 days before date of departure.

  • Triple Share Cabin $7,500 per person (two cabins available)
  • Twin Share Cabin $8,950 per person (1 x female berth remaining)
  • Twin Private $10,700 per person (7 cabins remaining)
  • Mini-Suite $11,975 per person (Only One Left)
  • Captains Suite $12,950 per person (Sold Out)

Due to initial expressions of interest and registrations there are only limited places remaining. If you would like to join me on what is going to be an amazing Arctic photography expedition please drop me an email for a detailed itinerary and booking form to info@jholko.com. Please note that  places are filled strictly on a first come, first served basis and once they are spoke for thats it.

NEW EXPEDITION : THE JEWELS OF THE ARCTIC – AUGUST 2013

Posted in Arctic, Landscape Photographs, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized, Wildlife Photographs, Workshops and ExpeditionsLeave a comment

I will shortly be announcing a new and very exciting 14 day / 13 night photographic expedition titled ‘Jewels of the Arctic‘. Departing on the 5th of August 2013 and docking on the 18th of August the trip will set sail from Longyearbyen in Svalbard and will be taking in the very best of Spitsbergen and Greenland before docking in Isafjordur in Iceland. A connecting flight will then take you to Keflavik International airport for connecting flights home. This expedition will combine the very best of Spitsbergen and Greenland with a taste of Iceland and has been structured to provide the best possible photographic opportunities. Just as a teaser: Spitsbergen’s rugged northwest coast comprises mountains, tundra and fjords. Greenland’s remote east coast shows off the immensity of the icecap, fantastic icebergs and massive granite spires rising over 1000 metres above the fjords. We will likely see and photograph Polar Bears, Reindeer, Arctic Foxes, Walrus, Glaciers, icebergs and more. It is going to be a truly spectacular photographic trip for a very limited number of photographers aboard an ice hardened expedition class ship. I am not quite ready to start taking bookings, but you can register your interest to have first option to join by sending me an email to info@jholko.com. No obligation at this point.