Svalbard Winter Explorer Expedition 2025 Sold Out

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My 2025 Winter Explorer expedition to Svalbard in April next year is now Sold Out – Thank you. If you want to travel to Svalbard and photograph the incredible wildlife and stunning landscapes of the archipelago draped in its winter armour, I will be offering this expedition again in 2026. Dates are 7th April – 15th April 2026. Full details are now available on my website at www.jholko.com/workshops. To get an idea of what to expect on an expedition such as this, be sure to read the 2023 Trip Report. You can also check out Svalbard’s portfolio of photographs in Winter HERE.

Photograph of the Month April 2024 Arctic Snow Hare Gallop

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The photograph of the month for April 2024 comes from my recent winter expedition to the east coast of Greenland (full trip report coming soon). It shows an Arctic Snow Hare in full gallop during a howling -40º C blizzard behind the small Inuit village of Ittortoqitormit on the East coast of Greenland. I photographed it with the Canon EOS R3, and the Canon RF 600mm f4L IS lens. The real challenge of this photograph (other than avoiding frostbite) was keeping the fast-moving subject in the frame as it galloped at high speed through the snow. The blizzard wind was incredibly strong, making hand-holding the lens impossible. To counter this, I lay down in the snow, using the snow cover as a makeshift tripod, cranked up the ISO to 1600 and opened up the f-stop to f6.3. This close to the subject meant the depth of field would be extremely narrow, making focus critical. Anything less than perfect focus on the eye would result in zero keepers. Incredibly, the Canon EOS R3 could track and nail focus on the eye of the fast-moving Snow Hare despite the howling wind and flying snow. Focus Case 2 was used to ignore the whirling snow around the hare. The blue background is not the sky (which could not be seen in the white-out conditions), but the wooden wall of one of the small painted houses in the village. This is an excellent example of how depth of field control can be carefully employed to control backgrounds and enhance a photograph. Without the blue background, there would be almost no contrast between the Snow Hare and the background.

Natures Best Photography Highly Honoured Polar Passion Category

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Hot on the heels of yesterday’s news that I took out first place in the People’s Choice Award in the Nature Category in the Asia Pacific Photography Awards, I learned early this morning that I was also highly honoured in the Polar Passion category in the Natures Best Photography Awards. I only discovered I had been awarded when I returned to Australia yesterday and found a copy of the latest Nature’s Best Photography magazine waiting in my unopened mail. As I was perusing the photographs with a very early morning jetlag coffee, I turned the page to find my photograph. It made for a warming start to the day.

Asia Pacific Photography Awards People’s Choice Winner Nature Category

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The Asia Pacific Photography Awards have just announced the 2024 People’s Choice Award winner for the Nature category. I am thrilled to report my recent photograph of the Pallas Cat, titled ‘Regal Cat’, from Mongolia in winter was the overall People’s Choice award winner for 2024.

In 2022, I completely swept the pool in this category, taking First, Second, and Third place. This year, I won the Peoples Choice award in the nature category and drew with myself for third place in the judged category with the Pallas Cat photograph and the Pygmy Owl photograph. All three of my entered photographs were also top 20 and top 10 finalists.

I will return to Mongolia again in January 2025 and 2026 to photograph the Pallas Cat and the Snow Leopard. The 2025 expeditions are already sold out, but bookings are now open for 2026. You can email me for further information or to register your place. Full details are also available on my website at http://www.jholko.com/workshops.

Canon Release EOS R3 and R5 Firmware March 2024

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Canon has released new firmware this month for the EOS R3 and the EOS R5 mirrorless cameras. The biggest update appears to be the enabling of power zoom control functionality for the new power zoom lenses. There are also additional bug fixes relating to stable use.

Canon EOS R3 – Canon EOS R3 V1.7.1 includes the following enhancements

  1. Enables servo zooming to be remotely controlled from EOS Utility or Camera Connect when Power Zoom Adapter PZ-E2/PZ-E2B is attached to a compatible lens.
  2. Enables up to 2 TB to be used on CFexpress cards larger than 2 TB.
  3. Fixes an issue that may cause the camera, in rare instances, to stop functioning when using GPS.
  4. Fixes an issue that may display Error Code 70 when performing anti-flicker shooting at a shutter speed of 1 second or higher.
  5. Enhances security for FTPS (File Transfer Protocol Security) connections.
  6. Fixes an issue in which Mobile File Transfer may not function when connecting the camera to an iPhone compatible with USB 3.0 and higher.
  7. Fixes an issue that, under specific circumstances, may prevent the image from being displayed in the viewfinder or on the screen causing the camera to stop operating, or Error Code 70 may be displayed.
  8. Fixes minor issues.

Download firmware v1.7.1 for the EOS R3

Canon EOS R5 – Canon EOS R5 Firmware 2.0.0 includes the following enhancements

  1. Enables servo zooming to be remotely controlled from EOS Utility or Camera Connect when Power Zoom Adapter PZ-E2/PZ-E2B is attached to a compatible lens.
  2. Enables up to 2 TB to be used on CFexpress cards larger than 2 TB.
  3. Fixes an issue that may cause the camera, in rare instances, to experience a delayed restart after the camera has gone into Auto Power Off.
  4. Fixes an issue that, under specific circumstances, may prevent the image from being displayed in the viewfinder or on the screen causing the camera to stop operating, or Error Code 70 may be displayed.
  5. Fixes minor issues.

Download Firmware v2.0.0 for the EOS R5