Travel Photographer of the Year 2019 Exhibition in London

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Travel Photographer of the Year has recently opened a new free open-air photography attraction in London. The exhibition includes the latest winning images from Travel Photographer of the Year 2019. The photographs are now on display at London Bridge City SE1 2DB – adjacent to City Hall and the Scoop and opposite the Tower of London. Included in the exhibition is my highly commended self portrait photograph from Svalbard in Winter.

The exhibition of world-class contemporary travel photography will be viewable 24 hours a day and run until April 30. So, if you’re in London during this period, don’t miss it. No need to book tickets – just turn up and enjoy!

Svalbard Winter 2019 Expedition Complete

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Early this morning I returned to port in Longyearbyen and wrapped up my 2019 Winter ship expedition in the Svalbard archipelago. I will have a full trip report soon, but in brief we experienced what can only be described as challenging weather conditions during our expedition with consistently strong winds that saw us sheltering in many of the fjords to avoid the large sea swells. Despite the weather, we were very fortunate to encounter one of the most active and photogenic Polar Bears I have yet had the pleasure to photograph (more on this later) as well as some truly fabulous Walrus on ice encounters.  I am now headed back to Australia for a few weeks at home (and some time to process and print some photographs!) before I head south to Tasmania for two back-to-back landscape workshops.

Photo of the Month March 2019 – Winter Moon Rising

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The photograph of the month for March 2019 comes from my Winter Arctic expedition last year aboard M.S Origo and is of the full moon rising above the snow draped mountains of Svalbard.  Photographed from the back deck of our expedition ship with friends Vincent Munier, Daniel Bergmann and Chris Wahl we stood out on the rear deck waiting for the moon to rise above the mountains for a couple of hours. I recall the temperature around -20ºC and near perfect clear skies. I thought we had calculated the time and position the moon would rise perfectly, but as it turned out we had forgotten to take into account the mountains and so with our patience almost at an end and no moon in sight we had just about given up and gone inside for a warm drink. Thanks to Chris for staying outside for a cigarette and coming to get us quickly when he saw the moon starting make an appearance behind the mountains. Who says nothing good comes from smoking!

Svalbard Winter Snow Mobile Expedition Two 2019

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Yesterday evening I wrapped up my second and final winter snow mobile expedition for 2019 here in Svalbard. As per the first trip, conditions were and remain just about ideal for scootering across the landscape in search of wildlife (although the weather has been much warmer and with a little more wind than the previous week). There was also some heavy snow during the week which actually improved driving conditions further out on the normally very bumpy sea ice. During these two expeditions I drove over 2000 kilometres on snow mobile and my back and shoulders are now more than a little sore.  Thankfully I now have a couple of days to rest and recover before kicking off my winter boat expedition in search of wildlife and arctic winter landscapes. At the conclusion of this expedition I will return home to Australia for a few weeks before I head down to Tasmania for two back-to-back landscape workshops in the ‘apple isle’.

Svalbard Winter Snow Mobile Expedition One 2019

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Yesterday evening I wrapped up my first winter snow mobile expedition for 2019 here in Svalbard. This year conditions were and remain just about ideal for scootering across the landscape in search of wildlife. There is a great covering of soft fresh snow and there is none of the bare ice that dominated the landscape last year that made driving difficult and caused the scooters to frequently overheat.

I will have a full trip report when I return to Australia but in brief, during the course of the five day expedition we encountered three Polar Bears on our first day in Templefjord (before it was closed by the Governor), then six on the second day in both Templefjord and on the East Coast near Monbukta. Day three, four and five we focused our efforts on Arctic Fox, Reindeer and Ptarmigan. Ptarmigan proved a little thin on the ground this trip but we had absolutely superb Arctic Fox and Reindeer.

I now have a couple of days to rest and recover before kicking off the second snow mobile expedition and then my winter boat expedition before I will return home to Australia.