I am very excited to announce that I will be leading two workshops to Iceland in summer next year with my good friend and Iceland local Daniel Bergmann. Both workshops will have an emphasis on different regions of the Highlands as well as different coastal areas. These are workshops that will get you off the usual tourist route and into some of the more inaccessible, interesting and least visited areas of Iceland. We all also visit a few of the iconic locations as well as a few tucked away gems we want to keep up our sleeves. If you have never been to Iceland before and want to avoid the tourist traps, or if you are an Iceland regular and want to get into new territory then these are the workshops for you.
The first workshop will run from August 14th until August 23rd 2016 and will focus on the Highlands and Northern area of Iceland. We will also visit the precipitous basalt cliffs and rock formations of the Snaefellsness Peninusla, amongst many other areas. You can download a detailed itinerary and information PDF form for the first workshop HERE.
The second workshop will run from the 28th of August until the 6th of September 2016 and will focus on the Southern Highlands and eastern coastal regions of Iceland. Our intention on this workshop is to focus on some of the lesser known highland areas in the southern part of Iceland. We will also visit the precipitous ocean lined mountains at Stokksnes as well as vising the spectacular Laki Volcano and the world famous Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon. You can download a detailed itinerary and information PDF form for the second workshop HERE.
We have chosen August and early September for these workshops as this is an ideal time to visit Iceland for photography. The days are still long with Sunrise around 5 a.m. and sunset just before 10 p.m. The best light for landscape photography is therefore during the evening and early morning. This means that we may have an early dinner and then head out to photograph and sometimes be out before breakfast for a morning shoot. On cloudy days we’ll have a more normal routine. What we’ll do exactly on any given day will be decided around the weather and other conditions and there will be small changes to our original plan to make the most of our time in each area.
A small group of participants (maximum of 12 plus leaders per workshop) guarantees a more personal and intimate experience than bigger tours can provide. This is a unique opportunity to travel and photograph with two experienced professionals who have a combined total of more than 40 years of photographic experience and can take you to the best locations that are off the beaten track, and at the right time – when the light is best. We will be travelling in a large off road ‘super jeep’ 4-wheel drive to give us plenty of space for camera equipment and gear. 
Cost: The cost for each workshop is $7,450 USD. There is no single supplement and single rooms will be provided wherever possible.
Duration: 11 days/10 nights for each workshop
Includes: Accommodation for ten nights in single rooms. Food and beverages (excluding alcohol). All transport during the duration of the workshop in a modified 4-wheel drive vehicle. All tuition and guiding services.
Excludes: International flights, travel insurance and alcohol
Group size: 12 per workshop
Due to initial bookings and expressions of interest places on both these workshops is already limited. If you would like to register your interest for one of the remaining places or would like additional information please contact me at info@jholko.com.
With the Emperor Penguins living so far south on the sea ice this expedition will be utilizing a privately chartered transport jet to access our first base camp at Union Glacier deep in Antarctica. We will then utilize a privately chartered Twin-Otter aircraft to take us to the remote Emperor Penguin colony where we will establish a field camp for the duration of our expedition. 
This expedition has been more than two years in the planning and has been designed to provide the very best possible opportunities to Photograph Emperor Penguins in their natural environment. By using chartered planes we can avoid the problems and uncertainty associated with ship based expeditions not being able to reach the colony due to sea ice conditions. Establishing a field camp means we can also photograph during the polar night when the light is soft and ethereal. Our time with the Emperors will be an extended one and provide us ample opportunities to photograph these majestic birds amidst a backdrop of spectacular glaciers and pressure ridges.
During the expedition we will be 1,870 miles (over 3000km) from the southern tip of Chile and only a stone’s throw away from Mount Vinson, the highest peak in Antarctica. The South Pole will be just over 600 miles (1000km) away. Our geographic location will be 79°46’S 82°52’W. And our elevation 2, 297ft (700m) above sea level. This will be further south than I have previously ever ventured and is an area very rarely visited by humans.
Given the logistics, and cost involved this expedition is certainly not for everyone. To my knowledge this is the first time this expedition has been offered as a workshop for dedicated wildlife photographers and I am really excited about this new photographic expedition and very much looking forward to the experience. Due to the initial expressions of interest and subsequent bookings the expedition is already completely sold out, but if you would like to be put on the waiting list you can still register your interest by emailing me at 
Please note that due to the nature of this expedition and the logistic difficulty of reaching and camping with the Emperor Penguins that this unique opportunity is unlikely to be repeated in subsequent years.
Its diet consists primarily of fish, but can also include crustaceans, such as krill, and cephalopods, such as squid. In hunting, the species can remain submerged up to 18 minutes, diving to a depth of 535 m (1,755 ft). It has several adaptations to facilitate this, including an unusually structured hemoglobin to allow it to function at low oxygen levels, solid bones to reduce barotrauma, and the ability to reduce its metabolism and shut down non-essential organ functions.
Day Three: Twizel: Another early start as we set up to photograph first light and sunrise on the mountains. After breakfast we travelled off-road in our 4-wheel drives deep into the heart of the MacKenzie wilderness to photograph where few others venture. This part of New Zealand’s South Island offered us incredibly unique photographic opportunities in a very remote wilderness setting. We returned for lunch and a break before we headed out again for our last light evening shoot in the mountains.
Day Five: North Otago – Te Anau: Sunrise on day five found us on the beach shooting the other-worldly and alien Moeraki Boulders, unusual spherical rock formations embedded in the sand that make for wonderful photography. This peculiar natural phenomenon is contrasted beautifully by the wide-open expanse of the Pacific Ocean. We then left the coast and made our way west to the lakeside town of Te Anau, located on the fringe of the Fiordland National Park. We arrived late in the afternoon and photographed by the lake shore late into the evening.
Day Seven: Te Anau: We spent a full day in the Milford Sound area of the Fiordland National Park. We photographed dramatic mountains carved out by glaciers, lush rainforest draped in mosses and lichens, and crystal-clear rivers. We then returned to Te Anau, arriving in the late evening. We also took a cruise up the Sound to photograph the cascading waterfalls and precipitous mountains that plunge hundreds of metres into the ocean.
Day Eight: Te Anau – Wanaka: We began with a sunrise shoot on the shores on Lake Te Anau. After breakfast we travelled north through Central Otago as we made for another lake town: Wanaka. We arrived in the early afternoon and left soon afterwards for our shoot location, overlooking Lake Wanaka and the mountains.
Day Twelve: Greymouth – Christchurch: We departed Greymouth well before dawn and made for a quiet out of the way, and little known location where we could photograph some wonderful trees in a serene and peaceful lake. We had torrential rain on our last day of photography that really worked to our advantage – creating a lovely soft ethereal contrast in the trees. We concluded our workshop back in Christchurch with flights out in the late afternoon.
South Georgia’s remote, untamed landscape is simply stunning. Scattered across the mighty Southern Ocean, the tiny arc of windswept islands and harbours are some of the world’s greatest wildlife sanctuaries set against world class landscapes. Famed for its abandoned whaling stations and Shackleton’s heroic journey, South Georgia is home to literally millions of fur seals and penguins, wallows of elephant seals, and nesting albatross. After we finish photographing in this breathtaking area we will sail back to the Falkland Islands where we will dock on the 21st of November and conclude this photographic expedition. 
We will be using an ice hardened expedition ship that will enable us to get into the best possible locations. Our expedition ship the ‘Polar Pioneer’ is equipped with sufficient zodiacs and crew for all photographers to be shooting simultaneously with plenty of room to spare for camera equipment. If you would like to reserve one of the two available places or would like further information you can download a detailed itinerary and PDF flyer 
I will be announcing our 2016 Summer Highlands workshop in the next few days and if you would like to join us you can register your interest by dropping me an 
