Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings

Posted in Antarctica, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Wildlife Photographs3 Comments

I just wanted to wish all of you who may have travelled and photographed with me either past, present or future, who follow my blog and photography or even just stumbled across my work somewhere, a very happy and safe Christmas and festive season. I hope the elves brings you some wonderful new photography toys and that you are fortunate to spend this festive time with close friends and family. Wishing you good health and happiness and all the very best for the festive season and New Year.

It is going to be a busy couple of weeks for me before I head overseas again. I hope to finalise my 2016 What’s in Store Blog Post as well as finish the trip report from the Emperor Penguins. I hope to also process and share some of the images I made during this expedition (first preview below). For now though, its time to celebrate Christmas with friends and family, say thanks for a wonderful 2016 year and prepare to usher in the New Year. Roll on 2017.emperorsexpedition2016-13757-edit

German Magazine Fine Art Printer Magazine Features Portfolio from Antarctica and Iceland

Posted in Antarctica, Arctic, Iceland, Landscape Photographs, Media, News and Updates, Travel Photography, Uncategorized, Wildlife PhotographsLeave a comment

German magazine Fine Art Printer has just featured and published a portfolio of my photography from Iceland, Australia, the Arctic and Antarctica in issue #117. You can check out the feature by clicking on the image below to download a PDF of the article. You might need to brush up on your German!fineartprinter

Luminar Pluto is Coming…

Posted in Equipment, News and Updates, ReviewsLeave a comment

Unless you have been living under a rock (or lost on an iceberg) you are probably already aware of MacPhun’s new photo editing software Luminar (available only for the Mac). I have been using Luminar more or less since its release as a plug in for Photoshop and have been extremely impressed with its workflow and speed (and layers support). It has already completely replaced the Nik filters in my workflow and has greatly simplified my post production work. In short, I am a pretty big fan of Luminar.  If you are not yet familiar with Luminar then its well worth taking some time to check it out and download the free trial. You can run Luminar as a stand alone application; or as a plug in for Lightroom and/or Photoshop. In my own workflow I find I prefer to run it as a Photoshop Plug in; but your mileage may vary. I may do a full review on Luminar at a future date if I get the time; but if you want to get a head start there are already a great range of videos on the power of Luminar HERE.  Luminar already offers touch bar support for owners of the new MacBook Pro and later this week the new Pluto update will launch (free upgrade for existing users) with additional filters and features.macphun-luminar-photo-editor-release

Emperor Penguin Photographs – Where Are They?

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

I have had several emails over the last couple of weeks asking me why I have not as yet (after two visits to the interior of Antarctica and the remote sea ice for Emperor Penguins) shared or posted a single photograph of an Emperor Penguin. It is a fair question (as well as an astute observation) and being completely and totally upfront I decided more than two years ago that I was not going to post a single image of an Emperor Penguin until I had completed my second trip with clients this year. I felt the clients who accompanied me on this dedicated and unique expedition deserved to have the stage and spotlight for their images first and I have been thoroughly enjoying seeing their work on social media since our return this November. Seeing their photographs has been an inspiration and a wonderful trip down memory lane of the incredible experiences we shared together in such a remote area of Antarctica whilst we camped with the Emperors. Reading their comments and thoughts on the expedition that have accompanied the photographs has been for me wonderfully fulfilling and I want to take the opportunity to thank each of the participants once again for putting their faith in me to pull off this expedition.

The second reason is more selfish in that I wanted (and needed) some time to work my way through my images with a really critical eye and heavily vet them for only those photographs I felt that were absolute stand out. This process has been (and still is ongoing) extremely time consuming. I shot over 15,000 images alone in just three days on the sea ice in blizzard conditions this year and finding the best of the best in so many is no small task. Especially when you are looking for minute gesture changes and subtle differences that take a photograph from great to extraordinary. It takes a lot of time to properly edit a shoot such as this and I find I need to live with my selections for quite a while before they make the final selection. The good news is I will soon be sharing my work from this expedition and I plan to release all of the photographs simultaneously in a new portfolio on my website at www.jholko.com. I will also have a full trip report with many behind the scenes photographs. Until then, I wanted to share another Penguin photograph – This time its Adelie Penguins riding a large piece of fluted blue ice during a heavy snowstorm in Antarctica. This was my favourite photograph from the expedition I lead to South Georgia Island and the Peninsula post the Emperor Penguin Expedition. Conditions were difficult with freezing wind and blizzard snow; but the results were well worth the cold fingers.antarctica2016-26430-edit-2