Category: Arctic

Departing for the Jewels of the Arctic Expedition 2014

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

Tomorrow my co-photography leader Antony Watson and I will be boarding our ship ‘Polar Pioneer’ in the north of Iceland for our 2014 Jewels of the Arctic Expedition. There is always a palpable sense of excitement in the air on the eve of an expedition departure and I am keen to get underway. I have been photographing more or less non-stop in Iceland for more than six weeks now and I am feeling the northern call for icebergs, dramatic fjords and wildlife. It has been a full year since I was last in Greenland and I find myself just itching to return to its amazing landscapes. I wrote last year in the 2013 Jewels of the Arctic trip reports about the incredible geology in Greenland, the monolithic icebergs and the unique wildlife encounters – all of which I am again eager to photograph and share with all on this trip. We have a boat full of passionate and keen photographers and I am very much looking forward to seeing what they produce over the next two weeks.

It was on this Jewels of the Arctic trip last year that I produced the short video in co-operation with Untitled Film Works on what it was like to experience a photography expedition in the Arctic.  Our intention was to capture the feeling and essence of what it is like to travel on a dedicated photography expedition in the Polar regions. You can watch that video by clicking on the image below.

Over the last six weeks in Iceland my body has become accustomed to operating in the small hours under the midnight sun for the best light for photography. As we sail north from Iceland over the next few days the sun will no longer fully set and we will have near perpetual daylight. It has been my experience that the best time of day for photography this far north is late into the evening when the light becomes soft and ethereal. It will likely take me a day or so to find my sea legs once we get out of the harbour and into the Denmark Strait but I am hopeful that I can adjust quickly like last year and slip easily into ship board life with my co-photographers.

This will be the last blog post for a couple of weeks as we will have no internet once we sail out of the Isafjordur harbour. Its going to be a very exciting trip. See you in Longyearbyen in a couple of weeks…

What about the Volcano?

If you have been keeping up with recent events here in Iceland you will be aware that there is currently an orange eruption alert for the Bárðarbunga volcano at the northern end of the Vatnajökull ice cap. I have been monitoring the status of the volcano constantly via the Iceland MET website over the last week and have spent some time in relative proximity observing the ice cap but there has of yet been no clear and certain indication that an eruption is about to occur. Presently there is no evidence that magma is moving toward the surface which would indicate an eruption is imminent. Things can change quickly however and should the volcano erupt whilst I am in Greenland I plan to fly back to Iceland to make the most of the photographic opportunity – ash cloud permitting. For now, there is little else to do but continue to monitor the  volcano’s status as the earthquake swarm continues.

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.

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.

Kingdom of the Ice Bear Expedition : August 20 – August 30 2015

Posted in Arctic, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Wildlife Photographs, Workshops and Expeditions1 Comment

Icelandic Nature Photographer and good friend, Daniel Bergmamn and I are very excited to announce a new expedition to the very edge of the permanent pack ice north of Svalbard to photograph Polar Bears living and hunting on the sea ice – The Kingdom of the Ice Bear.The High Arctic is a place to inspire the imagination. Nowhere is it more accessible than the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, located deep within the Arctic Circle. With the reduction in Arctic sea ice the Polar Bears in Svalbard are dwindling in number and the number of years left to photograph them is unfortunately limited. July and August are the ideal times to photograph Polar Bears north of Svalbard due to the dwindling ice around the archipelago. We will be photographing Polar Bears under the midnight sun and as such we will work late into the evening when the light is best. We are highly manoeuvrable on our small ship and our experienced captain and expedition leader will place us in the best possible position for photographing the bears we encounter.

The expedition is for a strictly limited number of just 12 participants plus leaders and is dedicated to the photography of Polar Bears living and hunting on the sea ice. Our intention is to sail directly north from the small town of Longyearbyen in Svalbard to approximately 80 degrees North to the very edge of the permanent pack ice. At our northerly most point we will likely be less than 600 miles from the North Pole. We will be using the ice hardened expedition ship M.S Malmo (the sister ship to M.S Origo) which will enable us to skirt the edge of the pack ice searching for and photographing Polar Bears. M.S Malmo and M.S Origo are widely regarded as the best ships in the Arctic for Polar Bear Photography. With low decks and operable portholes a mere 50cm above the water line we can photograph at eye level with wild Polar Bears. Our expedition ship is also equipped with sufficient zodiacs and crew for all photographers to be shooting simultaneously with plenty of room to spare for camera equipment  – So bring what you need!
On this expedition we will also search for walrus, arctic fox and other wildlife of the region including the rare and angelic Ivory Gull. Dramatic glaciers, plunging cliffs and beautiful drift ice formations will be present as well. To get an idea of the sort of wildlife photographs you can take on this expedition please visit the Svalbard portfolio at www.jholko.com
If you are excited by the idea of travelling to the edge of the permanent pack ice to photograph Polar Bears in their natural environment with a small group of dedicated photographers now is the time to register your place. The first expedition Wild Polar Bears sold out in just two days. Due to the waiting list for this expedition and preliminary bookings there are only six places remaining on this new expedition before it will be sold out. You can download a detailed itinerary and PDF information flyer HERE. Please contact me if you would like additional information.

June Photo of the Month: White Angel

Posted in Arctic, News and Updates, Photographs, Wildlife PhotographsLeave a comment

I launched the first part of a brand new service for RAW file optimisation and production of high resolution finished PSD files this week and the response so far has been almost overwhelming – thank you. For those of you who have sent me files for processing I am currently working through them in the order they were received and I hope to get them back to you within three-to-five days of you having sent them. Over the next few days I will be launching the second part to this service where you can have a fine art print of your photograph made here in my studio and shipped to you anywhere in the world. If you are considering entering APPA this year and are looking for someone to print your images please contact me for details. The prints I entered this year in the State awards scored Gold and Gold with Distinctions and I was also fortunate to take out the overall Highest Scoring Print of the Year.  I also have some other exciting announcements coming up on my blog over the next couple of weeks and am looking forward to sharing them.

In the meantime I have been retrospectively trolling through some of my photographs from the Arctic last year and came across this one of an Ivory Gull coming into land on an ice flow north of Svalbard. This was one of half a dozen or so Ivory Gulls we encountered last year whilst we were photographing Polar Bears at the edge of the pack ice. Ivory Gulls are incredibly angelic birds with pure white plumage and jet black feet.  With a little luck I hope to see them again this year in August when I lead my Arctic expedition to Svalbard and Greenland. This is one of those photographs I have absolutely no recollection of taking and I am not sure why it did not jump out at me on my initial and subsequent pass through edits. Nevertheless, ‘White Angel’ is my photograph of the month for June.