Following on from National Geographic’s recent publication of my Ghosts of the Arctic film, National Geographic has subsequently published some Behind the Scenes footage that shows a little of what went into the making of this film. Due to the difficulty of this shoot and the extreme cold it was almost impossible to capture much in the way of detailed behind the scenes footage. However, the footage published does include some extra shots we did not use in the final film and should give some insight into the making of Ghosts of the Arctic.
Really Right Stuff Feature – How to Choose an Expedition to Antarctica
Really Right Stuff have just published Part One and Part Two of a multi-part series of articles I recently penned on how to choose the right Photographic Expedition to Antarctica. If you are considering a future photographic expedition to Antarctica I highly recommend you take a few minutes out of your day to ensure you make the right decisions when you choose your expedition. Arming yourself with the information in this series will ensure you maximise your own photographic opportunities.
My own expedition to Antarctica this November (Antarctica – White Nature) is long sold out; but if you are interested in travelling on a future expedition you can register your interest by dropping me an email. I will not be offering a standard Antarctica Peninsula expedition in 2018 due to my commitment to the Antarctic Emperor Penguin expedition; however, I may have a future offering for November 2019 and will have more details on this expedition later this year.
National Geographic Feature – Ghosts of the Arctic
Today I returned to Longyearbyen (after my Polar Bears of Svalbard Summer expedition – Full Trip Report coming soon) and received news that can only be described as some of the best I have had in recent times: National Geographic who saw my recent Untitled Film Works film Ghosts of the Arctic has decided to pick up the film and publish it to both their website and social media channels. Included with the movie is a short interview with cinematographer Abraham Joffe. You an view National Geographic’s webpage HERE.
Ghosts of the Arctic – Vimeo Staff Pick Award
Video hosting website Vimeo has awarded Ghosts of the Arctic front page status with a coveted and very hard to achieve ‘Staff Pick’ Award.
UK Daily Mail Features Ghosts of the Arctic
The UK Daily Mail has just published an online essay with many behind the scenes photographs and excerpts from the making of my new short film Ghosts of the Arctic. 
Time has raced past and I now find myself about to head back to the airport in a couple of hours time for the long haul flights up to Norway and then onto Svalbard at 78º North for my summer Polar Bear expedition. Svalbard has become one my absolute favourite places in the world to visit and photograph and I find myself yearning to return whenever I have to leave and itching to get underway whenever an opportunity to visit or a new expedition approaches. There is something about the primordial landscape and environment in this region of the Arctic that I find incredibly haunting. It is a landscape that speaks to me on many levels and is now a place I consider very much my home away from home. I simply cannot wait to return.
I am packing a little bit differently to previous expeditions I have lead to Svalbard in recent years. For the first time I am taking an underwater housing with me (along with a custom made pole-cam system). It is my hope that there will be opportunities to photograph Walrus (and Polar Bears) with the system at some point during the expedition (although you never know as every expedition is different). The underwater housing requires its own dedicated and somewhat large pelican case (which has to be checked) so this has cut down somewhat on the amount of other equipment I would normally pack on this sort of expedition. Where as I have in the past packed both my 600mm F4L MKII as well as the 200-400mm F4L; this time I will take only the 200-400mm and will leave the bulkier 600mm F4L MKII at home.
Gura Gear Bataflae 32L Camera Bag (Carry on Luggage)
– 2 x Canon EOS 1DX MKII bodies
– 1 x Canon 11-24mm F4L Lens
– 1 x Canon 24-70mm F4L IS Lens
– 1 x Canon 70-200mm F2.8L MKII IS Lens
– 1 x Canon 200-400mm F4L IS Lens with inbuilt Teleconverter
– 1 x Sigma 15mm Fish Eye Lens
–
Gura Gear Chobe (Carry on Luggage)
– 1 x Apple MacBook Pro 15″ Retina (I plan to upgrade this to the new 13″ model early next year)
– 1 x Apple laptop charger
– 2 x USB 3 2TB external portable Sandisk SSD Drives
– 1 x Thunderbolt CFast card reader and CF card Reader
– 1 x Sunglasses and sunglasses case
– 1 x Leica Ultra-vid 10×42 HD Binoculars
–
Etcetera Case #1 (Inside Chobe)
– 1 x Canon 1-Series camera charger
– 2 x Power Adapters for on board ship
– 2 x Canon 1DX spare Batteries
–
Pelican 1620 Case (checked Luggage)
– 1 x Nauticam 1DX MKII Underwater Camera Housing with Vaccume System
– 1 x Glass Dome Port and Extension Tube for 11-24mm Lens
– 1 x Zoom Gear for 11-24mm Lens
– Various Housing Accessories
– 1 x Custom made Pole Cam system with Carbon Fibre poles 80cm and 100cm
See you in Svalbard!
