A Polar Photography Experience Video Interview and Outtakes

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Late last year I released a short movie I produced in conjunction with Untitled Film Works in the Arctic on what it was like to travel on a dedicated photographic expedition to the Polar regions – A Joshua Holko Photography Polar Experience Video. This video was a huge amount of fun to produce and work on with the crew from Untitled Film works. During the filming we were fortunate to experience and capture some truly spectacular sights including an incredible free standing iceberg collapse amongst some incredible landscape and wildlife experiences. The video was shot on a combination of a RED Epic Cinema Camera and a couple of Canon 1DC 4K Cinema Cameras. Audio for the film was recorded separately by a dedicated sound person. The entire movie was shot over a two week period in the Arctic using our ship ‘Polar Pioneer’ as a base of operations. We departed from Iceland in August and sailed across the Denmark Strait to Greenland where we explored the many fjords before we sailed across to Svalbard and docked in Longyearbyen. If you have not seen the movie click on the image below to watch it in full high definition.

One of the really enjoyable things for me during the production was the video interview we shot high in the Arctic near the calving face of one of Svalbard’s glaciers. The full interview includes all of the final cut footage included in the film as well as all of the outtakes, stumbles and slips that are a part of video production and interviews. The full unedited interview is included below. Enjoy – And remember its outtakes as well!Equipment for this Project

Since the release of this video I have had a few emails asking me specifically what equipment was used to produce this film. So I am including below a list of hardware we took to the Arctic and utilised for the production of this movie.  All of the editing and post production work was completed by Untitled Film Works at their studio in Sydney and a number of different software programs were used depending on wether the footage in question was shot with the RED Epic or the Canon 1DC cameras.  The RED Epic RAW footage requires different grading to the motion jpeg produced in the Canon 1DC cameras and so it was necessary to process them separately before combing the footage in the final edit. The entire project was however shot in 4K resolution and much of it was also shot in very high frame rate on the RED Epic.

Camera for this project included:

  • Red Epic 5K Cinema Camera for high frame rate slow motion footage in 4k resolution
  • Canon 1DC 4K Cinema Cameras x 2
  • Canon 1DX Camera (behind the scenes)
  • Canon 5D MK3 Cameras x 2 (behind the scenes)
  • Several Go Pro Cameras were also used for filming but none of the footage was included in the final cut

Lenses for this project included:

  • Sigma 15mm Fisheye
  • Canon 17mm F4L TSE
  • Canon 24mm F3.5L TSE
  • Canon 24-70mm F2.8L MKII
  • Canon 70-200mm F.27L IS MKII
  • Canon 200-400mm F4L IS with inbuilt 1.4 TC
  • Canon 2X Teleconverter

Other Equipment included:

  • Really Right Stuff TVC-24L 4 Section Tripod x 2
  • Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ballhead x 2
  • Really Right Stuff Levelling Plate x 2
  • Really Right Stuff L Mount Camera Brackets for Canon 1DC, 1DX and 5D MK3 cameras
  • Really Right Stuff Lens Plates for 70-200 and 200-400mm lenses
  • Really Right Stuff MonoPod with RRS Ballhead
  • Miscellaneous Really Right Stuff Accessories including Multi-tool and universal clamps
  • Glide Cam
  • Miller Video Tripod and Fluid Head
  • Various Rode shotgun and lapel microphones
  • Audio Recording Devices
  • 15 Terrabytes of Hard Drives and numerous laptops and associated accessories.

Purchasing the Canon 600mm F4L IS Mark II Lens

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Recently I decided to take the plunge, make the investment, and purchase Canon’s super telephoto 600mm F4L IS Mark II lens. I had been toying with the idea of purchasing this lens for almost six months and finally decided it was a necessary piece of equipment for several projects I am currently working on. Normally, I would not procrastinate for so long on the purchase of a new lens (who really needs a reason to purchase a wonderful lens anyway); but given the significant cost of ownership I needed to really map out my intended use to ensure I get the most from this expensive optic. I am not going to write an extensive review of this lens as quite frankly there are already many excellent reviews online. Suffice to say, the image quality from this lens is absolutely second to none in this class of telephoto. The MTF graphs alone tell the try story of just how sharp this lens really is. If you need to know anything particular about this lens then Google will certainly find it for you. Instead, I want to just briefly share my thought process on choosing this lens; what the alternatives were and why I decided it was worth jumping the cost barrier to entry.

Those of you familiar with my current shooting equipment might be asking yourself why I would purchase such an expensive lens when I already own the Canon 200-400mm F4L IS lens with inbuilt 1.4 teleconverter. The answer is really very simple – I simply want and need more reach. Although the 200-400 can reach 560mm on a  full frame camera such as the Canon 1DX with the 1.4 Teleconverter engaged; the 600mm is faster (F4 instead of F5.6) at the 560mm end of the 200-400 with 1.4 teleconverter, but more importantly, the 600mm F4 will reach in excess of 800mm with the addition of a 1.4 teleconverter for a max aperture of F5.6 (max focal length with 1.4TC on full frame is 840mm). This provides significantly more reach than the 200-400 lens. Thus the 600mm becomes a very good supplemental lens for subjects that are too far away for the 200-400.

At this extreme end of the telephoto range there are really three lenses to choose from in the Canon line-up if you want long reach and a fast aperture. The 500mm F4L IS MKII, the 600mm F4L IS MKII or the 800mm F5.6L IS lens. I do not include the rare Canon 1200mm F5.6 lens as this lens is no longer available new from Canon and it commands ridiculous amounts of money on the second hand market (in excess of $100,000 USD). It is also the size of a bazooka, has no Image Stabilisation, is extremely heavy and thus completely impractical for travel. There are also numerous 400mm options to choose from but none of these provide the reach I require. The 500mm falls well within the focal range of the 200-400 with inbuilt 1.4 teleconverter so was not really the ideal choice to supplement this lens; in effect it’s just doubling up on a focal length I already own. The 600mm F4L IS MKII lens offers more reach at a faster aperture than the 200-400 with its 1.4 teleconverter engaged. The 600mm F4 can equal the 800mm’s F5.6 aperture at 840mm with the addition of a 1.4 Teleconverter. The 600mm combined with the 1.4 and 2X teleconverters gives me options from 600mm, 840mm and 1200mm – more than enough for my intended use. In short, this makes the 600mm F4 the more versatile lens and a better choice for my intended use. If I were photographing small birds I may well have opted for the 800mm for the extra reach to get as many pixels on target as possible. Just an aside: Canon’s new MKIII 1.4 and 2X teleconverters are truly outstanding and I would have no hesitation using either of these with any of the Canon L series lenses. In fact the 1.4TC on Canon’s 70-200mm F2.8L IS MKII makes an excellent light weight ‘Birds in Flight’ lens for handheld shooting from ships.

One of the major considerations for me in purchasing the 600mm F4L lens (other than the cost) was how I am going to travel with it from my home base in Australia to Iceland, the Arctic and other polar destinations. Truthfully, I have not yet fully decided on wether I am going to schlep this lens through airports or pack it in a Pelican case and FEDEX it to my destination. At this point in time, I am leaning toward carrying it in my carry on luggage – although the bulky lens hood will ride in my checked luggage. It is going to be  tight squeeze with a 200-400 and 600mm f4 lens in my camera bag with camera bodies and supplemental lenses and equipment and I am expecting some spill over into a second bag (my Gura Gear Chobe bag). The addition of the 600m is going to put me way over the normal carry on luggage allowance; which is a bit of a worry and honestly I may yet opt for the FEDEX option. To date, however, I have not had issues (touch wood) with carry on camera equipment on any airline except Jet Star (with whom I will never fly again after they stranded me for 10 hours in Tasmania and refused me carry on in New Zealand back in 2008). In that vain, I did enjoy this image that incidentally turned up on Facebook a couple of days ago.Purchasing a lens like the Canon 600mm F4L IS is a significant financial investment and therefore it warrants serious consideration on its intended use before such a commitment. In my case, I plan to use this lens for a project I am working on to photograph Arctic Foxes in Iceland this winter (I expect this project to be ongoing over the next few years). This project will have it’s own dedicated micro-site that I am currently working on as well as the backing from the Arctic Fox Station, and several other sponsor parties. I will also take the lens to the Arctic with me (in addition to the 200-400) to photograph Polar Bears and Walrus on the Jewels of the Arctic trips in August this year. The first of these two expeditions is sold out and there are only three places remaining now on the second trip before it will also be sold out. If you want to get an idea of what this expedition entails be sure to watch the Polar Experience Video I produced late last year. I also intend to use this lens in the Arctic in 2015 on a dedicated expedition I am leading to photograph Polar Bears. I hope to officially open this trip for bookings in the next few weeks.

For the dedicated wildlife photographer the 600mm F4L IS Lens has long been the hoy grail of optics for capturing wildlife and I am looking forward to shooting with this lens over the coming years.

Solicitation for Payment to Promote Artists – Use Caution

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Over the last few years I have been receiving sporadic emails inviting me to have my work published and / or displayed in some form of publication on a cost to the artist basis. These emails almost always begin with ‘You have been specifically chosen from amongst thousands of artists‘. These solicitation emails have historically utilised printed media such as magazines and quote ‘ Art Books’ as their publishing platform. The long and short of this approach should you be unfortunate to receive one of these email invitations is that the artist or photographer is approached (usually via email) with an offer to have their work published in a quote ‘respected’ book or magazine. The offer often goes into quite some detail about the ‘extensive’ circulation of the publication, the importance of being included and the exposure that comes from having ones work displayed in the publication. The artist / photographer is presented with a number of different offers that range from a single page of publication to multi-page spreads at a cost of usually $600-$900+ USD per page. There is usually significant embellishment by the seller on the number of galleries the publication is distributed to as well as the extensive number of art purchasers who subscribe to the publication. The entire package is then dressed up for sale and proffered as an exclusive opportunity to the artist / photographer. Most of these books that I have researched are in excess of 300 pages which gives an idea of just how many artists you would be competing with should you pay to have your work included. Some simple math indicates that even at the lower end of $600 per page these publishers are raking in around $180,000 USD in revenue (and many of them are upwards of $900 per page and well in excess of 300 pages). With book publishing being as cheap as it is today in China  you can bet that less than a quarter of that is being spent on the actual publication. It doesn’t require much thought as to where the rest of it ends up. I did some checking with galleries here in Australia as well as those in New York and other prime locations. Most had never heard of the short list of ‘Art books’ I had been approached by and those that had did not have kind things to say about them; suggesting quite bluntly they were a complete waste of money and that any artist who was seeking representation should contact them directly for folio appraisal.

I am going to refrain from naming some of these publications even though I have both direct and indirect experience with quite a few of them. You should be able to quickly recognise these publications for what they are in how they market and present themselves. These publications prey on the often fragile ego of the artist photographer hoping to be recognised and to stand out from the crowd. The sales pitch is designed to entice the artist to part with their money in exchange for having their work published and distributed to an often unknown network that is difficult to verify. There is almost never any offer of follow up after publication to verify the distribution or of offers to work with the artist who is usually seeking gallery representation. I know of one recent example whereby a good friend paid to have his work printed in what was supposedly a well respected magazine. Despite making his substantial payment in full no magazine has been published to date and all requests for a refund have gone unanswered. In this magazine’s defence I believe they did release a digital PDF version after complaints from many of the contributors (all of whom payed to be published). Who this was distributed to remains unknown and wether an actual magazine will ever be printed remains unlikely. Either way, my friend is unlikely to get value for his money and even less likely to get his money back.

My advice if you are considering paying to have your work published is that you look very closely at the distribution of the media you are considering being a part of. The very first thing you should do on receiving any email that offers you publication in exchange for money is to Google the publication and find what experience other artists have had in dealing with them. I guarantee you will find someone out there who has been approached and written about their experience to help others. Put zero credence in their own website testimonials unless they include a full name and email link to contact the artist to verify the quote. Testimonials without  a full name and email address for verification are worth less than the virtual paper they are printed on.

More recently I have started to receive solicitation emails that are utilising the Apple APP store as the publishing platform. The email offer entices the artist / photographer to have their very own app developed comprising of their work. The company making the offer will design and build the app on behalf of the photographer and take a heavy percentage of any sales on top of a substantial up front development fee. On the face of it this may seem a fair deal. However, you should be sure to read the fine print about who owns the copyright to displayed work and what you are really signing up for. If you are approached with such an offer I suggest exercising caution. Be sure to do your due diligence. Try and speak with photographers or artists who have  paid to to use the medium and find out what they really got out of it. There are many application development kits now on the market that require even less work than setting up a website and I recommend you look into these before you hand over potential profit from sales of your work to a third party. The last such offer I received turned out to be using nothing more than an Adobe application for single issue publication called Adobe DPS Single Edition. This easy to use tool can be used by anyone to create their own application without development costs above those from Adobe for the software and Apple for access to iTunes. You don’t even need to know how to write code.

There are of course many legitimate reasons to pay for publication of your work. Just be very clear in your mind what you are hoping to achieve by having your work published if you intend to pay for the privileage. If it is purely ego driven then perhaps paying to satisfy this need is justifiable. But, if you are paying to publish your work in the hopes of recognition or with a plan to increase your exposure and publicity then I would think very hard about it before you make a financial investment. You are likely to get far more benefit from publishing your own book (or e-book!), or contacting a gallery or agent directly than you will ever get from being included in a artists book that showcases the work of many artists. There are a myriad of options out there for artists who want to promote their work and increase their exposure. Many of them require no where near the upfront investment some publications are asking. There are many roads to recognition for the promotion of artists – consider your options carefully and ask yourself what you are really trying to achieve before you part with your hard earned money to promote your work.

February Photo of the Month: Petermann Island Antarctica

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My photograph of the month for February is of a Penguin rookery high on the mountain side at Petermann Island in Antarctica. Petermann Island is one of those incredible Antarctic locations where it is possible to go ashore and wander amongst the many Penguin rookeries making photographs. In this instance, we landed late in the evening via zodiac at Petermann Island and spent several hours photographing the landscape and penguins as the sun slowly set in perfect weather conditions. This photograph was taken around 11pm at night and illustrates just how much light is available this late in the evening in Antarctica. We were very fortunate during this landing to have just about perfect conditions with wonderful light and atmospherics. Dedicated expeditions for photography such as this one (Read the Report) are the key difference between capturing images such as this in ideal lighting conditions and just snapshots taken in the middle of the day. If you are interested in travelling to Antarctica for photography I am running two expeditions to the great white continent this year. The first is an extended expedition to South Georgia Island and Antarctica with my good friend Andy Biggs. The second is a shorter expedition to the Antarctic peninsula with fellow Australian photographer Antony Watson. Full details, including an itinerary is available for download on the workshops page of my website at www.jholko.com There are only very limited places remaining on both expeditions. If you want to get more of an idea what it is like to travel on a dedicated photography expedition be sure watch the Polar Experience Video I produced late las year.

FujiFilm Australian Landscape Photographer of the Year 2013

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Just over a month ago I helped judge the Fujifilm Australian Landscape Photographer of the Year Competition for Australian Photography + Digital Magazine and the winners have now been announced. Congratulations to Debbie Fowler who is the inaugural winner of the prestigious Australian Photography + digital Fujifilm X Landscape Photographer of the Year award. She won with her aerial abstract series, which she shot whilst on an open-door helicopter flight above the Cambridge Gulf in far northwest Australia. Second place overall went to Helen McFadden, who shot a series of icy images made in Godhul Bay, South Georgia island, north of Antarctica and east of the South American continent. The other eight finalists to make the top ten included Brad Grove, Matthew Smith, Luke Tscharke, Shirley Milburn, Aaron Huang, Andrew Dickman, Judith Conning, and William Patino. The top twenty five portfolios included Peter Hill, a second portfolio from Aaron Huang, Nick Baldas, Derek Feebrey, Francis Pisani, Tim McCullough, Peter Hammer, Ben Taylor, Priyaji Peiris, Michael Harris, Cameron Downie, Chris Wiewiora, Margot Hughes, Jason Beaven, Kiall Frost. My congratulations to all of these photographers.

The competition was open to amateur photographers only and true to its name sake was out to find the 2013 Australian amateur landscape photographer of the year. I know the term professional photographer is somewhat convoluted these days but Australian Photography Magazine define it as: Professional photographers are not permitted to enter. By entering this competition the entrant guarantees that he/she is not a professional photographer. For the purposes of this competition a professional photographer is someone who earns more than $2000 a year from photography. By that definition we can assume that all entrants into this competition earned less than $2000 with their photography in the year of entry. This is an important distinction as this point rules out many very fine photographers who make some (albeit a meagre) income (above $2000) from the pursuit of their passion but fall far short of being able to sustain and support themselves without some other supplementary income (usually a full time job). I emphasise this point as this competition is one truly open to amateurs only.

This was not the first time I have  been invited to judge a photographic competition (and I hope it wont be the last!) but it was the first time I have judged a competition whilst I have been on a photographic expedition. In this case, I had just completed two spectacular weeks in Antarctica (Read the Report) surrounded by fifty other passionate photographers. Emotionally this time away on an expedition spent with a passionate group of participants put me in a very creative frame of mind and I felt charged and dare I say it perhaps even qualified to judge the photographs entered into the competition and prepare my thoughts on the winning images.

Whilst I was viewing the photographs it struck me that those images that were most successful were those that stepped beyond the obvious cliché and triggered an emotional response in the viewer (in this case me). I wrote briefly about this for Australian Photography Magazine and my orginal text is included below:

Firstly, thank you for the invitation to judge this competition and for the opportunity to present my thoughts on the judging process in relation to the submitted entries. It is very easy to wowed as a judge by exotic locations and having been fortunate to travel to, and visit many of the places depicted in the images submitted by many of the contestants I feel qualified to comment on how the image has been executed – composition, light, the ability to see past the obvious cliché. Travel to exotic photography destinations is perhaps half the battle. But it is on location where the magic of light and composition have to come together to create something truly special in landscape photography. It takes a keen eye and the ability to successfully translate a three-dimensional scene into a two-dimensional image that maintains a sense of depth and movement.  Being able to see past the obvious and capture form, shape and texture sets the best work apart from merely technically competent work. I was very pleased to see a selection of images in the competition that clearly demonstrated this skill and ability.

As a judge I am looking for images that demonstrate not only technical excellence, but also that evoke an emotional response in the viewer (In short, images that challenge the viewer and make them stop and think). A photograph that is well composed with a strong subject and great light really shines when the photographer also manages to capture the mood and feeling of a location. I look for a sense of depth, movement and design (once the technical aspects have been assessed) when judging images and those photographs that successfully convey this always stand out. Photographs that pose a question or that cause the viewer to pause and consider what it is that they are viewing are always far more powerful than just a pretty scene.

FujiFilm Australian Amateur Landscape photographer of the year is not a title to be bestowed lightly. Although this competition is not open to professionals I viewed all images with the eye of a professional full time nature photographer and it was very pleasing to see such a solid standard of work. The line is very blurred these days between amateur and professional photographers and I regularly see work from amateurs of the highest calibre. I am pleased that this competition has attracted this high standard of work and it was my pleasure to view and judge the photographs. I commend all the photographers who entered and encourage them to do so again next year. Thank you.

Not long after I had finished judging the competition and had forwarded my thoughts above to Australian Photography Magazine I came across a fascinating article by photographer David Ward. I was sitting in the airport at Punta Arenas in Chile waiting for my connecting flight to Santiago last December and was reading issue #65 of On Landscape magazine (one of the finest publications on landscape photography to grace the halls of landscape literature in my view). Of particular interest was an article by David titled ‘Leaving Room, Where Does the Viewer Live?’. I have not yet had the pleasure to meet David but his article strikes at the very core of what I was driving at when I wrote the above statement about judging the Fujifilm Landscape Photographer of the Year competition.  Landscape photography is about so much more than just a pretty or dramatic picture and David’s article sums this up succinctly and in such a way that the photographer can take many pearls of wisdom away from the article and apply them to their own phtoography. If you do not subscribe to On Landscape I highly recommend you do so and read David’s excellent article. Issue #66 also includes an excellent article on judging Competitions titled ‘The View from the Other Side” by Tim Parkin that is well worth a read for any would be contestant entrant as well as any existing or potential future photographic judge.