News and Updates – Page 37 – www.WILDNATUREPHOTOTRAVEL.com

Svalbard Winter Snow Mobile Expedition One 2019

March 16, 2019 Posted in Arctic, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized, Wildlife Photographs, Workshops and ExpeditionsLeave a comment

Yesterday evening I wrapped up my first winter snow mobile expedition for 2019 here in Svalbard. This year conditions were and remain just about ideal for scootering across the landscape in search of wildlife. There is a great covering of soft fresh snow and there is none of the bare ice that dominated the landscape last year that made driving difficult and caused the scooters to frequently overheat.

I will have a full trip report when I return to Australia but in brief, during the course of the five day expedition we encountered three Polar Bears on our first day in Templefjord (before it was closed by the Governor), then six on the second day in both Templefjord and on the East Coast near Monbukta. Day three, four and five we focused our efforts on Arctic Fox, Reindeer and Ptarmigan. Ptarmigan proved a little thin on the ground this trip but we had absolutely superb Arctic Fox and Reindeer.

I now have a couple of days to rest and recover before kicking off the second snow mobile expedition and then my winter boat expedition before I will return home to Australia.

Departing for Svalbard in Winter 2019

March 9, 2019 Posted in Arctic, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Wildlife PhotographsLeave a comment

My time in Iceland this winter has now come to an end (full trip report on the Arctic Fox expedition coming soon) and early tomorrow morning I am going to make the short hop across to Oslo and then up to Longyearbyen in Svalbard. I will be leading two back-to-back winter snow mobile expeditions (both sold out) as well as an expedition by ship (also sold out) out into the frozen wilds of the Arctic in search of Polar Bear, Arctic Fox, Reindeer, and wonderful frozen landscapes.

Winter is my favourite time of year to visit and photograph in Svalbard. With the sun low on the horizon and the landscape draped in snow and ice the opportunities for both wildlife and landscape photography are truly superb. The 2019 expedition is long sold out, and there are now only has a few places remaining on the 2020 expedition before it will also be sold out. If you would like to photograph in Svalbard in winter then you can drop me an email to register for one of the final places. Once they are spoken for, thats it.

Wolverines and Wolves of Finland 2019 Availability

March 4, 2019 Posted in Finland, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized, Wildlife Photographs, Workshops and Expeditions1 Comment

A place has just become available on my Wolverines and Wolves workshop this October in northern Finland. We will be photographing in mid Autumn conditions: We can expect everything from sunny days to cloud, fog or even heavy rain. This variety of weather, landscape and lighting conditions will provide you with the opportunity to create a diverse, creative and professional portfolio of these predators. We will be photographing almost exclusively from hides as these animals are extremely shy and very elusive. Each hide is equipped with everything you need to spend hours (even overnight) out in the field. We will have a number of different hides from which to choose, with various viewing angles.

On this workshop we will be staying in private cottages located deep inside a Nature Reserve only a few miles from the Russian border. Each cottage can accommodate up to four people, but is available for single use at no extra cost. Breakfast will be taken at our accommodation. Lunch and dinner will be a combination of food in the field, and home cooked meals prepared for us by a chef at our cabins. If you have special dietary requirements please be sure to let us know at time of booking.

If you are interested in photographing these apex predators along with black bears and White-Tailed Eagles from private hides during the fiery Autumn colour of Finland then please drop me an email to register your interest.

2019 Arctic Fox Expedition Complete

March 2, 2019 Posted in Arctic, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized, Wildlife Photographs, Workshops and ExpeditionsLeave a comment

Yesterday afternoon I wrapped up my 2019 Arctic Fox expedition in the north west of Iceland. I will have a full trip report when I return home to Australia in April, but in the meantime the 2019 expedition saw us encounter the highest density of foxes I have yet experienced in this part of Iceland. We had sightings and great encounters with a total of six individual foxes during our expedition and some absolutely superb photographic experiences. At the conclusion of our expedition we took a little time to visit the Arctic Fox Centre in Sudavik where there are now a number of my Arctic Fox prints on display throughout the centre. I am now spending a week more in the north of Iceland before I make way up to Svalbard for both my winter snowmobile and winter ship expeditions.

In Search of the Wolverine in Finland in Winter

February 18, 2019February 20, 2019 Posted in Arctic, Finland, Iceland, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Video, Wildlife Photographs, Workshops and Expeditions1 Comment

Late yesterday I wrapped up six days of personal photography in northern Finland (in no mans land on the Russian border) trying to photograph Wolverine in winter. I decided to keep a daily video journal of the time I spent in the hide trying to photograph this elusive and shy animal. I uploaded the videos daily to social media via a pretty good 3G connection, but have now compiled them into a chronological time-line that I hope gives some insight into what it is like to spend day after day in a hide waiting for the opportunity to photograph rare and elusive wildlife. Peta-Pixel have now also picked up this story and have published it on their website.

I am now headed to Iceland to lead my annual expedition to the Hornstrandir Nature reserve in the North West fjords to photograph Arctic Fox in winter. I am really looking forward to returning to this remote area and the opportunity to again photograph these incredible animals with a small group of dedicated and passionate photographers. Perhaps best of all is that no hides are required in this area!