A few days ago I received the exciting news that a number of my photographs have been selected for the final round of judging for both the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year and ANZANG Australia and New Zealand Nature Photographer of the Year competitions for 2016. This is the fifth year in a row I have had my photographs selected for the finals in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition and the fourth time I have had images in the finals of ANZANG. I hope to share the images here on my blog as soon as the final round of judging is completed.
Month: March 2016
Iceland News Features Arctic Fox Project
Yesterday I wrapped up my 2016 winter workshop in Lofoten, Norway (full report to follow) with a fabulous early morning photography session of white-tailed eagles fishing out at sea.
I am now headed to Africa for my Namibia overland Landscape workshop. It has been two years since I was last in Namibia and I am looking forward to returning to the incredible landscapes this country has to offer. After Namibia I will be returning home to Melbourne for a couple of weeks and hope to start processing images to complete my work on the Arctic Fox project.
The Icelandic news website Visir recently featured an interview with me on the Arctic Fox project and on my thoughts on the tourism explosion currently underway in Iceland. You can download a PDF of the interview HERE. I hope you can read Icelandic or have a good translator to hand…
National Geographic Traveller Magazine Features Fortress
The current issue (April 2016) of National Geographic Traveller Magazine features one of my photographs from Antarctica as the leading double page spread to an Antarctic travel article – 7 Trips, 7 Continents. Just click on the image below to download the image and article. The photograph titled ‘Fortress’ was taken back in 2011 in the Gerlache Strait during heavy overcast skies. This particular iceberg remains for me one of the most spectacular I have been fortunate to see and photograph. I will be leading a new expedition to Antarctica in late October next year (2017) that will be dedicated to iceberg photography. If you are keen to travel and photograph in Antarctica with a small group of passionate photographers please drop me an email to register your interest. No obligation at this point.
Arctic Fox Project – Behind the Scenes
A little over two weeks ago I wrapped up my winter photographic project on the Arctic Fox in the remote north east of Iceland. The project has spanned the last three winters with the final intent being a book to be released later this year. A portfolio of prints from the project is available now for purchase on my website. A behind the scenes video snippet from one of the last days on the project is included below. Just click on the image below to play the video. Full behind the scenes footage coming soon.
Daniel Bergmann and I also wrapped up our 2016 Iceland Winter Workshop a couple of days ago (full report coming soon). We had a mix of dramatic and challenging weather during the trip; as is often the norm for Iceland in winter.
I am now in the Lofoten Islands in Norway where I will be co-leading a nine day workshop for landscape photography with my friend Martyn Lucas. We are kicking off in the next couple of days and are looking forward to dramatic winter landscapes and possibly even some Aurora Borealis if conditions permit.
Participant Trip Report – Kingdom of the Ice Bear Expedition
In August last year Daniel Bergmann and I lead a ten day expedition (Kingdom of the Ice Bear) north of the Svalbard Archipelago in search of Polar Bears, dramatic Arctic landscapes and other Arctic wildlife. One of the photographers who joined us (Harvey Lloyd-Thomas) has just published a report on the expedition with On-Landscape magazine. Excerpt from the report below:
The Voyage of the Malmö
Harvey Lloyd-Thomas writes about his trip to Svalbard
The Svalbard archipelago – formerly known as Spitsbergen – high in the Arctic, is somewhere I’ve long wanted to visit. It is not clear when Svalbard was first discovered, was it the mysterious land of Thule written of by the Greeks? Was it even the cold shores recorded by the Norse from which Svalbard gets its name? What is certain is the sighting in 1596 of pointed mountains which translates as Spitsbergen, by the Dutch sailor Barents.
Historically Svalbard became know as a whaling base, in more recent times for coal mining and today tourism is on the rise. Politically Svalbard has had a unique status since a 1925 treaty ceded the lands to Norway, but retaining a Russian presence (illustrated by Vodafone sending me a welcome to Russia text as we sailed past the mouth of the fjord containing the Russian mining settlement of Barentsburg, then shortly after welcoming me to Norway as we neared Longyearbyen). Today Svalbard mainly makes the news for polar bear attacks (fortunately a rare occurrence) and the Doomsday seed vault buried in the permafrost.
While I must have seen Svalbard on maps before, I first remember reading about the archipelago in the Time-Life Photography Year 1974/75 book, which was in the art rooms during my time in the sixth form back in the 80s. The book included a feature on the then new phenomenon of photo safarisand the first such voyage to Svalbard. Subsequently I heard about and saw photos from a trekking holiday a friend made to the islands back in the 90s. So in 2014 when the opportunity arose to sign-up for a photo safari to Svalbard in the summer of 2015 aboard the MS Malmö, it was an opportunity – despite the expense – I felt I could not pass on. It would round off my exploration of North Atlantic islands and further north into the Arctic Circle, having previously visited the Shetland Islands, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, east Greenland and northern Norway.
You can read his full trip report and enjoy all his photographs at On Landscape Magazine. Please also consider subscribing to this excellent magazine.
Watch the Expedition Video by clicking on the image below.
www.WILDNATUREPHOTOTRAVEL.com 