Category: Landscape Photographs

Landscape Photographs from around the World

Ultimate Iceland Workshops Completed

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

Daniel Bergmann and I have just completed our two back-to-back Ultimate Iceland workshops. During these two workshops we circumnavigated the Island twice and visited a great many of its iconic landscape locations. As one would expect we had a real mix of Icelandic weather and light that provided some fantastic opportunities for photography and I will have more to say about both these workshops in a full report here on my blog at a later date.

If you are interested in travelling and photographing in Iceland Daniel and I are running a workshop in August 2015 dedicated to photography in the Highlands and you can read more about that workshop HERE. Places are now extremely limited (only two remaining before it will be sold out). To get an idea of the sort of photographs you can make on a workshop like this please visit the Iceland Portfolios at www.jholko.com.

For now I am taking two weeks off for some personal photography with my friend Antony Watson in some of the more remote parts of Iceland before we both board our ship ‘Polar Pioneer’ for the Jewels of the Arctic Expedition. Our Jewels of the Arctic Expedition will see us sail from the north of Iceland across the Denmark Strait to Greenland where we will explore the many mountainous fjords before we sail across to the rugged coastline of Svalbard.  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. You can read the full report on the 2013 Jewels of the Arctic Expedition here on my blog.

If you are interested in travelling to the Arctic to photograph Polar Bears Daniel Bergmann and I are running an expedition in Svalbard next year dedicated to photographing the king of the Arctic and you can read more about that expedition HERE. There are only two places remaing before this expedition will be sold out.

Australian Geographic Magazine – The Spirit of Antarctica

Posted in Antarctica, Landscape Photographs, Media, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Wildlife Photographs1 Comment

Australian Geographic magazine is featuring a small gallery of my photography from Antarctica in the Travel section of their website. I will be leading two trips to Antarctica this November and December. The first is an extended expedition to South Georgia Island and Antarctica in early November. The second will depart for the Antarctic peninsula in early December. You can see a complete portfolio of my Antarctic images at my main website at www.jholko.com

Arrived in N’Iceland

Posted in Iceland, Landscape Photographs, Photographs, Travel Photography, Workshops and ExpeditionsLeave a comment

A few days ago I completed the long haul flights from Australia to Oslo and then the short hop across to Iceland (thank you to Iceland Air for the business class upgrade – much appreciated!). It is again wonderful to be back in this amazing country. I admit to being super keen to visit Vegamót (one of my favourite eating establishments in Reykjavik) for a bowl of seafood soup as soon as possible after landing. I got sidetracked looking through the menu however and ended up with the Lobster pizza – still excellent!

Thankfully I can report that I did not have any issues with the airlines and my camera gear on the journey over here (either with Qatar or Iceland Air). Travelling with large amounts of camera gear is getting harder and harder and I always get a little nervous about lugging so much gear on the eve of an overseas trip. Its always a nice feeling to get off the plane at the final destination with all of your equipment on your person and in tact.

Tomorrow Daniel Bergmann and I are kicking off the first of two Ultimate Iceland Workshops which will see us circumnavigate the island as we explore many of the dramatic landscapes this island has to offer. Those of you who follow my blog are already aware of my love for the highland regions of this country and we will be spending a good amount of time in the interior of Iceland. But I am also very much looking forward to returning to Dettifoss and Selfoss waterfalls. It has been a few years since I last visited these waterfalls and I am keen to re-shoot them with new vision. Ridley Scott put Dettifoss on the Hollywood map a couple of years ago when he chose to photograph one of the more dramatic scenes from his movie Prometheus at the waterfalls edge – an angle I shot several years earlier. I have had more than a hankering to return to this waterfall since I first saw the movie. For now though, its time to get started with a morning espresso. See you on the road…

Departing for Iceland, Greenland and Svalbard 2014 Workshops and Expeditions

Posted in Arctic, Landscape Photographs, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Workshops and Expeditions4 Comments

This is my last post for a while as I will be piling  into the taxi shortly and heading to the airport to make my way to Iceland for my 2014 back-to-back Ultimate Iceland workshops. I have been looking forward to these two workshops for some time as we are circumnavigating the island during both these tours and taking in a great many of its incredible locations. I am particularly looking forward to returning to Dettifoss and Selfoss waterfalls as well as well as the geothermal highland regions of Landmannalaugar and Vedivotn. Both of these areas are more or less inaccessible in winter and both are two of my favourite areas for photography in Iceland. We will have hours of golden light under the midnight sun which is going to give us lots of opportunities to make incredible images in this amazing country.At the conclusion of these two Iceland workshops I will be boarding the expedition ship Polar Pioneer and sailing to Greenland and Svalbard on the Jewels of the Arctic Expeditions. Greenland and Svalbard offer incredible opportunities and the high Arctic is a breathtaking landscape to experience and explore and I am very much looking forward to returning. You can read a report on last years Jewels of the Arctic expedition HERE. Peter Eastway who accompanied me as my co-leader also had a Feature Article in Better Photography magazine on this exciting adventure. We are looking forward to monolithic icebergs, glaciers, towering mountains that guard the fjords and with a little luck we will see and photograph the King of the Arctic – the Polar Bear. If you are interested in photographing Polar Bears then Daniel Bergmann and I are running an expedition for just twelve photographers in August next year dedicated to photographing the King of the Arctic. You can read more about that expedition HERE. Places are now very limited.

I usually make a dedicated post on what equipment I am taking with me on each trip but I have just not had time over the last few weeks so am including it here: The Canon 1DX will remain my primary camera of choice for these trips. I will also carry a back up Canon 1DS MK3 and a couple of spare batteries so that I can shoot with both cameras when on ship and zodiac in the Arctic. Experience has shown me that I can pretty much go an entire day without a battery change but I like to have spares on hand just in case. I have long pondered the idea of taking a camera with more mega pixels with me (particularly for Iceland) but I have ultimately decided that the quality of the pixels in the 1DX are more than good enough for my requirements. I have been making really wonderful 20 x 30 and 40 x 60 inch prints from Canon 1DX files and have now sold quite a lot of large prints made with images taken with the 1DX. The 1DSMK3 is somewhat long in the tooth these days, but it still makes excellent photographs at low ISO and in its rugged 1-seris body its the ideal 2nd body for photography in the Arctic regions.

In terms of new equipment for these trips I am taking the new Canon 16-35mm F4L IS lens and am looking forward to shooting with this lens from ship and zodiac in the Arctic. Canon has long needed a high quality wide angle zoom and the new 16-35mm F4L IS lens has finally plugged that gap. You can read my thoughts on Canon’s current lens line-up HERE.

Gura Gear Bataflae 32L: (carry on luggage – Believe it or not this does all fit in the one camera bag!)

  • Canon EOS 1DX Pro Body Camera
  • Canon EOS 1DS MK3 Pro Body Camera
  • Canon 17mm F4L TSE Lens
  • Canon 24mm F3.5L TSE MKII Lens
  • Canon 16-35mm F4L IS Lens
  • Canon 24-70mm F2.8L MKII Lens (The MKII version of this lens is an amazing piece of glass)
  • Canon 70-200mm F2.8L IS MKII Lens
  • Canon 600mm F4L IS MKII Lens
  • 2 x Spare Batteries for the 1DX and 1DS MK3
  • Canon 1.4 TC MKIII Tele-Extender
  • Leica Ultra-Vid HD Binoculars
  • Cable Release and Bubble Level
  • Assorted CF and SD Cards totalling around 100 Gigabytes
  • Rocket Blower and Dust Cleaning paraphernalia
  • Complete LEE Foundation and Filter Kit with Soft and Hard ND Graduated filters and LEE Polariser – includes LEE adapter for the Canon 17mm TSE Lens

I am carrying the two TSE lenses specifically for landscape photography in Iceland. I expect to use the new Canon 16-35mm F4L IS when on my Jewels of the Arctic expedition when shooting from ship and zodiac. I am primarily carrying the 600m and 200-400mm lenses for Polar Bears and other wildlife in the Arctic, but also intend to use them to photograph birds at Jökulsarlon in Iceland.

Gura Gear Chobe Bag: (carry on luggage)

  • 15″ Macbook Pro with Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CS6 with the Nik Plugin suite
  • MacBook Power Adapter
  • Canon 200-400mm F4L IS Lens with inbuilt 1.4 TC (Watch the Unboxing Video) This lens ‘just’ fits inside the Chobe!
  • 1 x LACIE Thunderbolt External 1TB Hard Drive for in the field Back Up.
  • Various Power Adapters / Chargers and Associated Cables
  • Canon 1DX / 1DS MK3 Battery  Charger
  • iPad Mini (e-books and movies for the long flights)
  • USB CF and SD Card reader
  • Passport / iPhone / Wallet
  • Astell and Kern AK100 MK2 High Definition Portable Audio Player & Inner Ear Stage 2 Driver Headphones
  • A lot of these items I store inside Gura Gear Etcetera cases inside the Chobe. (These cases are fabulous for organising accessories)

North Face Thunder Rolling Duffle: (checked luggage)

  • Arctic Sport Muck Boots
  • 66º North Wet and Cold Weather Outer Shells
  • Arc’teryx Kappa and Atom LT Jackets
  • Devold Expedition Base Layers
  • Mid Layers – Trekking Pants and Tops
  • Light Weight Long Sleeve Shirts for Namibia
  • Gloves and Hat
  • Miscellaneous clothes
  • Personal items and toiletries – including Sunscreen

Tripod: (checked luggage)

  • Really Right TVC24L Tripod
  • Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ball Head
  • Really Right Stuff Tripod Spikes (For mossy ground and rock claws for ice and rock)
  • Jobo Jnr. Deluxe Gimbal Head with Really Right Stuff Dovetail Base Plate

I am going to do my best as always to update my blog whilst I am away; but posts may be somewhat sporadic, particularly when I am at sea in the Arctic. For now, I have nearly thirty six hours of travel ahead of me and it’s time to make a start. See you in Iceland.

Photo of the Month July 2014: Ghost Forest Namibia

Posted in Africa, Landscape Photographs, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel PhotographyLeave a comment

My photograph of the month for July is from the desert of Namibia in Africa. I shot this image on my recent overland Safari workshop by the roadside at Sossasvlei late in the afternoon. I recall being instantly drawn to the incredible texture and folds in the giant red sand dune juxtaposed against the fossilised dead trees.  I was fortunate to also have some wonderful afternoon light and blowing sand to add atmosphere. This is one of my favourite photographs from my recent trip to Namibia. I used the Canon 200-400mm F4L IS Lens with inbuilt 1.4 Teleconverter at 1/400th of a second at ISO200 on the Canon 1DX.