Category: Arctic

Expedition : Wild Polar Bears 2015 – SOLD OUT

Posted in Arctic, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Wildlife Photographs, Workshops and Expeditions6 Comments

In July 2015 I am leading a unique expedition to the pack ice north of Svalbard to photograph Polar Bears living and hunting on the sea ice. This expedition has been more than 10 months in the planning and has been designed to provide the very best possible opportunities to Photograph Polar Bears in their natural environment. 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. Late July is the ideal time to photograph Polar Bears north of Svalbard due to the dwindling ice around the archipelago. I had been planning to announce this new expedition to photograph wild Polar Bears  was now open for bookings; however, due to initial expressions of interest and subsequent bookings the trip is already completely sold out.

If you are interested in travelling to the very top of the world to photograph Polar Bears living and hunting in their natural environment on the pack ice you can still email me to be put onto the waiting list or to express your interest in a future expedition.

This photograph scored a Silver with Distinction at the recent Epson Victorian Professional Photography Awards and was part of my winning Portfolio for Science, Environment and Nature photographer of the Year 2014.

Photo of the Month May 2014: Bear Reflection

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

It has been a whirlwind of ‘to do lists’ over the last week since I returned from my winter Iceland workshop and Namibia overland workshops and as usual my photograph of the month is somewhat belated. Between catching up on all my email correspondence, office paper work and winning the 2014 Epson Victorian Professional Science, Environment and Nature photographer of the year, Creative Photographer of the Year, Highest Scoring Print of the Year and scooping the pool with the grand prize of Epson Victorian Professional Photographer of the Year I have just barely had a few moments to begin to sort and edit the more than five thousand images I shot whilst I was away. The reality is it will likely be many months before I have finished the editing and post production work. I do feel I did some good work in both Iceland and Namibia and I am looking forward to sharing them here on my blog and on my website over the coming months. I have very much enjoyed seeing some of the photographs that were captured during these workshops by participants and it never ceases to amaze me how high the standard of work can be from people who are passionate about their photography. I will also have a full debrief report from both the Iceland and Namibia workshops over the coming weeks here on my blog.

In the meantime, my photograph of the month for May is of a large female Polar Bear I photographed in late July last year at the edge of the permanent pack ice north of Svalbard. I was fortunate to be in the right position when this bear wandered up to the edge of the ice and peered down into the still waters and her own reflection. In terms of distance this Polar Bear was less than thirty feet from the boat when I made this image and I used Canon’s new 200-400mm F4L IS lens with inbuilt 1.4 Teleconverter. This photograph scored a highly coveted Gold Award at the recent VPPY Awards and was one of the photographs in my Creative Folio and Science, Nature and Environment Folio.

AIPP Victorian Photographer of the Year Winner 2014

Posted in Antarctica, Arctic, Landscape Photographs, Media, News and Updates, Photographs, Wildlife Photographs4 Comments

Over the last few days The AIPP Australian Institute of Professional Photography Victorian State awards (VPPY) were held here in my home town of Melbourne at 1140 Studios in Malvern. The AIPP Annual state and national awards are two of my favourite photographic competitions to participate in because all entries (other than Sport and Commercial categories) are judged in print and not digitally. Those of you who follow my blog regularly will already be aware that I am a huge advocate of the print as the finished medium of choice for my own photography. I personally never really feel like I have finished with an image until I make a finely crafted (hopefully!) print. The AIPP National and State awards are two of the few remaining competitions to actually judge the finished print and they do so using a panel of judges all deemed experts in their respective genres and accredited as Masters of Photography through their years of success in this arena. Prints are judged in a controlled lighting environment and assessed for their content, originality as well as technical craftsmanship. The judging is enthralling to watch (it was live-streamed to the internet this year) and can be quite nerve wracking if you are a first time entrant as the standard of work is incredibly high. In brief, prints are scored out of 100 with images judged less than 70 being deemed not of professional standard. Prints judged between 71 and 79 are considered strong professional practice. Images judged 80-84 are awarded a Silver and are considered strong professional practice of an award standard. Scores of 85-89 are given a Silver with Distinction and demonstrate superior imagination, craft and skill. Prints judged 90-94 exhibit excellence in visual communication, craft and skill. And finally those rare few images that reach 96-100 are considered to have exceptional vision, creativity, innovation, master craftsmanship and skill. Very few prints score Gold awards in these competitions and even fewer reach the top tier of Gold with Distinction.  Out of the more than 900 print entries this year fewer than twelve received Gold awards and less than four Gold Distinctions were awarded.

This year I entered both the Travel and Creative categories as well as the Science, Environment and Nature category and was absolutely thrilled to take overall first place in both the Science, Environment and Nature Category as well as the Creative Category (I was also a finalist in the Travel category with the highest scoring prints including three gold images one of which was a Gold with Distinction). Winning both of these categories is a huge honour and I feel very humbled to have had my work judged so highly by my peers. On top of winning my two chosen categories I also took out the Highest Scoring Print award for the overall highest scoring print across all categories. Highest scoring print is one of the most coveted and sought after awards and the possibility of winning it has always felt like a dream so I am deeply honoured to be the recipient this year. As someone who is so passionate about the ‘print’ and the craft of fine art printing this was an incredible honour. The winning print scored a 97 out of 100.I was even more honoured to also be the recipient of the overall award and title of Victorian Photographer of the Year. The recipient of this award is chosen from amongst one of the category winners from: Commercial, Landscape, Travel, Wedding, Portrait, Science Environment and Nature, Documentary and Sport, Family and Illustrative. Winning both the Creative category, Science Environment and Nature category, Highest Scoring Print award and overall title of Victorian Photographer of the Year is an incredibly humbling experience and I want to sincerely thank all my judging peers and all of the staff and helpers at the AIPP – Thank you. I also want to thank those photographers I am fortunate to travel with on a regular basis for their support and also their enthusiasm, passion for photography and ability to continually inspire me with their own work and vision. I also want to thank my sponsors for their ongoing help and support – they include: Canon Australia, Moab and Legion Paper, Giclee Media Supplies, Gura Gear, Live-Books websites, Nik Software and X-Rite Color Management Solutions.Included below are my award images in each category and their respected scores out of 100. All of the prints were printed on Moab Somerset Museum Rag. This wonderful paper has continued to remain my all-time favourite stock for fine art photography prints.Highest Scoring Print Award

March of the Penguins – 97 out 0f 100 Gold with Distinction Award
Creative Category Winning Images (And Travel Category Entries)Iceland Aerial – 95 out of 100 Gold with Distinction Award

An Epic Sense of Scale – 92 out of 100 Gold AwardGodafoss Waterfall – 90 out of 100 Gold AwardRoad to Oblivion – 84 out of 100 Silver AwardNature Category Winning ImagesMarch of the Penguins – 97 out to 100 Gold with Distinction Award

Built for the Kill – 91 out of 100 Gold AwardBear Reflections – 91 out of 100 Gold AwardLeave Me Be – 86 out of 100 Silver with Distinction Award

If you are interested in purchasing a 20″ x 30″ inch Limited Edition Signed print of any of these photographs please contact me at info@jholko.com for edition availability and pricing. Signed Open Edition 13″ x 19″ inch prints will be available for a limited time only at a cost of $250 each including postage anywhere in the world.

Iceland Winter Workshop Complete – Heading North in Search of Foxes…

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

Daniel Bergmann and I have just completed our annual winter workshop in Iceland and are now back in the capital city of Reykjavik. This quick post is not intended to be a full debrief report from the trip as that will come later once I have more time and a chance to sit down and write up the details of our trip. In the meantime I am headed north west tomorrow to the seaside town of Ísafjörður on a short internal flight where I am meeting up with a film crew to spend a week photographing Arctic Foxes in the extreme north in Hornvik. Hornvik is located in the remote Hornstrandir nature reserve in the Westfjords of Iceland. The area is situated between the precipices Hornbjarg in the east and Haelavikurbjarg in the west.  The nearest cove further east is Latravik with the lighthouse, and to the west is Haelavik. This part of Iceland is very remote and completely inaccessible in winter or summer by car or 4-wheel drive so our only chance to get there is with a weather window by chartered boat. No people have lived there permanently since approximately the 1940’s so it is necessary to take absolutely everything with us for our stay in this area – including food, fuel and emergency e-perbs. Hornvik is the ideal place to find Arctic Foxes and my hope is to spend a week photographing them in their winter coats around their dens in the snow. The image below of an Arctic Fox was made last summer in Svalbard.

International Polar Bear Day

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

I just returned home two days ago from an incredible expedition workshop to the South Island of New Zealand and am still catching up on email and office work as well as drafting a blog post on our experiences in the South Island. However, I wanted to quickly acknowledge that today is actually International Polar Bear Day and that we all need to do our bit to reduce greenhouse emissions to help protect and preserve the environment for the world’s largest land carnivore – The miraculous Polar Bear. On International Polar Bear Day—or starting any day you choose—adjust your thermostat a few degrees (up or down, depending on where you live or the season) to show your commitment to greenhouse gas reductions. Make every day a Polar Bear Day by keeping your thermostat adjusted, insulating your home, or taking other steps to save energy. And if you need an added incentive then remember its cheaper to put on a sweater than crank up the heating.