Very early this morning (around 12:30am) I returned from the East Coast of Greenland to my home in Australia. My earlier than planned return was obviously a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that is currently sweeping around the globe (I had planned to stay in the Arctic the better part of another month). The East coast of Greenland in winter is not the easiest place in the world to return from and my journey began with a snow mobile ride from the remote cabin at Kap Tobin at the entrance to the Scoresby Sund fjord system to the small inuit village of Ittoq. From there I took a helicopter to the small airport at Constable Point and then a charter flight back to Akureyri in the north of Iceland. A short internal flight to Reykjavik followed with a couple of days in Reykjavik to sort onward travel logistics. I was able to change my flights to come home via a 2-hour transit in Singapore, but those plans were kiboshed at the very last minute when Singapore announced its borders were closing to non-citizens. Several panicked emails later to my travel agent and assistant I was able to take an Iceland Air flight to Heathrow and connect with Emirates to Dubai and then onto Melbourne Australia. As it turned out I made the very last Emirates flight out of Dubai before it also shut down. The entire travel process was complicated by the fact that I have either a herniated or bulging disc in my lower back and am suffering constant pain down the sciatic nerve.  I was very glad to make it home this morning and walk in my front door.

Of course, as is mandatory I am now the subject of a two week self isolation period; which means I am now locked in my office (which thankfully has an attached bathroom). I knew one day there would be a benefit to having a home office! I thought I would take the opportunity to try and post an image a day here on my blog during this fourteen day period as well as record some image processing tutorials which I will upload and make available free of charge on my You Tube channel.

Kicking off the image for day one is a photograph of a blue morph arctic fox I photographed on my Arctic Fox workshop this February (full trip report coming very soon). This particular female fox is one I have been photographing since 2016. Over the last four years I have built trust with this fox to the point she will now come to within just a few feet of me,  lie down in the snow, curl up and go to sleep. She is now toward the end of her life and this is probably her last winter.  I will miss her dearly and pray I may see her again for one more season next year.

This photograph works for me because of the wonderful feeling of movement and gesture in the foxes stride, the curl and sweep of the tail and the raised front paw. Of course, the addition of the snow plastered to the foxes face and body adds a sense of drama and is the icing on the cake. The photograph was taken hand held with the brand new Canon EOS 1DX MK3 with the Canon 400mm F2.8L IS MK3.  Camera Settings: ISO800 f5.0, 1/1000th of a second.