Category: Arctic

Travel Photographer of the Year International Touring Exhibition

Posted in Arctic, Iceland, Landscape Photographs, Media, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Wildlife PhotographsLeave a comment

The Travel Photographer of the Year touring exhibitions are now underway and the first is now happening in Malta (running until October 8th). This is the first international exhibition for Travel Photographer of the Year and the first retrospective.  The second retrospective opens in Beijing from October 15th and will run until October 23rd this year. The Malta exhibition is being held at  Spazju Kreattiv, St James Cavalier, Valletta, Malta (they are on Twitter etc.) and the Beijing exhibition is part of Photo Beijing.

Several of my photographs will be on display as part of these exhibitions. The polar bear and seal kill is on display in both the Malta and Beijing exhibitions, whilst the image of the blue iceberg on the beach in Iceland is on show in Malta. If you happen to have a chance to visit any of the exhibitions please be sure to drop me an email and let me know what you thought.VPPY - Gold Award
Blue-Berg

Natures Best Photography 2016 Highly Honoured Polar Passion

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A few days ago I returned home to Australia from back-to-back expeditions and workshops to Svalbard and Iceland (trip reports coming soon). I was very pleasantly surprised to find on my return that one of my photographs that made the finals in the Polar Passion category of Natures Best Photography this year has subsequently been Highly Honoured and chosen for inclusion in the 2016 Natures Best Photography exhibition and book. See below for a complete list of the winners and highly honoured photographers.

The photograph was taken on my 2015 Summer Svalbard expedition (read the trip report). If you would like to travel to Svalbard and photograph Wild Polar Bears there are now only a couple of places remaining on my summer expedition next year 2017 before it will be sold out. To get an idea of what these expeditions are like be sure to watch the video Kingdom of the Ice Bear from our 2015 expedition.

The Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Awards staff is proud to announce the names of the photographers who will be displayed in our upcoming 2016 Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Awards Exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. The Windland Awards exhibition will open to the public on October 19, 2016 and run through 2017. 
Svalbard-1928-EditNaturesBest2016KingdomoftheiceBear

Svalbard in Winter Expedition SOLD OUT

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I am excited to announce that as of last week my new expedition to Svalbard in Winter next March is already sold out. The result of several scouting and test trips this new and unique expedition offers a first time opportunity to photograph in Svalbard in winter from expedition ship. The Arctic in Winter is a place to inspire the imagination. It is a white landscape bathed in golden light. This brand new expedition is the first of its type to venture north of Longyearbyen by ship in winter.svalbard-9725-edit copyIf you missed out on this expedition and are interested in travelling and photographing in Svalbard in Winter I will be announcing new dates for 2018 soon. Like 2017, this expedition will be limited to just 12 participants and will take us into remote areas of the Arctic at a time when the polar light is at its absolute best. I am not quite ready to start taking bookings for 2018 yet, but if you would like to be amongst the first to reserve your place you can register your interest now by dropping me an email (no obligation at this point). More details to come soon.

Photo of the Month September 2016 – Arctic Fox Hunt

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The photograph of the month for September 2016 is of a blue morph Arctic Fox on the prowl for something to eat during high winds and blowing snow on a remote Iceland peninsula in winter. Taken during my three year project on the Arctic Fox this is one of my favourite images in my new book ‘Melrakki’ on the Arctic Fox. The photograph itself was taken with a Canon EOS 1DX and a Canon 600mm F4L IS MKII lens from a snow hole . The snow hole allowed me to get down to eye level with the fox to create a more intimate image than would otherwise have been possible. I have particularly vivid memories of this day because of the cold and because of the constant need to shovel the snow out of my snow hole as built up around me. The light and blowing snow created fabulous atmosphere though and it was worth the effort for the resulting photograph.ArcticFoxIceland-9512-Edit

Melrakki is available now for pre-order on my website as a limited edition hardcover fine-art book. The culmination of three years of winter photography in the extreme north-west of Iceland, Melrakki is limited to just 100 copies, each edition is hand numbered and signed and includes an original 11″ x 09″ inch fine-art pigment on paper print.

With foreword by pre-eminent scientist and Arctic fox expert Dr. Ester Rut Unnsteinsdóttir, Melrakki includes over fifty photographs and field notes from the three years spent photographing this remarkable predator in the extreme north-west of Iceland.

Melrakki Limited Edition is printed using the highest possible quality Canon Dreamlabo inkjet printer system and is printed on beautiful 250gsm High Definition Lustre paper that fully captures all of the incredible colour and tones of the original photographs. The Canon Dreamlabo represents the current state of the art in book printing and was chosen for this project after extensive testing and proofing as it yielded the highest quality that most closely resembles the original fine-art pigment on paper prints. I am extremely proud to stand behind the print quality in this Limited Edition book.

The included fine-art pigment-on-paper print is printed on Moab Somerset Museum Rag 300gsm paper and is hand signed.

Melrakki Limited Edition is $245 AUD plus shipping and can be ordered online exclusively through my website HERE.

I hope that you enjoy the photographs, insights and field notes from this project into the frozen world of Melrakki – the Arctic fox.

Photographs and Text by Joshua Holko

Approximate Dimensions: 22cm x 30 cm

96 pages (over 50 photographs + field notes)
The photo book & the print are together in a protective cloth sleeve

ISBN: 978-0-646-95781-4Cover

Photo Plus New York BenQ Featured Photographer

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If you are headed to Photo Plus in New York in October this year be sure to stop past and say hello to the good folks at the BenQ stand who will be giving away limited edition postcards of several of my images from Antarctica and Svalbard. As a teaser, one of the photographs was a finalist and was subsequently highly honoured in the recent Nature’s Best Photography awards (more info on this soon) and two others are finalists in the 2016 Australian Antarctica Photographer of the Year competition. Photo Plus is the biggest Photo Event in the USA and runs from October 20th to October 22nd. I will be attending Photo Plus for the first time this year (on the 21st and 22nd) and will be floating between the BenQ and Moab and Legion Paper stands. If you are around be sure to stop past and say hello!Svalbard-1928-Edit