Parting Shots from Svalbard

June 23

Our last full day on Svalbard, but who's counting. In  the midnight sun the days and nights run together and you lose track of time. We returned from our glacial excursion at 2:00 AM and it was 3AM before we finally fell asleep; so there were no suggestions to get up early and make the most of our last full day. Instead we slept in and made a lazy day of it. After lunch we made it down to some small ponds near the airport where gray phalaropes can occasionally be seen, and they did not disappoint. As we lay on the rocks they walked around us completely undisturbed by our presence.

Mrs. Phalarope waving us off.

Longyearbyen panorama.

Around the ponds by the airport carpets of tiny flowers announce that this is indeed summer. The Sigma 150/2,8 macro was the perfect lens for these tiny specimens.

A shot after taking off. The single road out of town running along the coast.

Longyearbyen was a great learning grounds for arctic photography. Where else can you go so far above the arctic circle and have wilderness so close at hand, in a fully functioning modern town? After our week here we had a much better idea of what to pack and what to leave, and our guide Jasper Doest taught us a lot of valuable lessons on nature photography and just as important, how to post process raw images to get the best results. His advice and guidance led to Johan placing in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year with this image:

And that alone made this an unforgettable trip.

Svalbard Summer Solstice Glaciar Excursion

June 22, Day 6 on Svalbard

The sun is now at its highest point in the sky for the year and in keeping with the midnight sun theme of our trip to Svalbard, today's main activity is an evening boat trip to the "nearby" glacial bay of Billefjord. So the first half of the day was quite relaxed, Johan and I spent some time in the harbor of Longyearbyen photographing the arctic terns who were just starting the courtship activities.

Male terns were catching krill along the shore and then offering their catch to the female who all the while sat perched on a rock on the shore. After a few hours of this the females were not able to eat another bite and just let the meal drop to the ground, after which the male would once again go and retrieve another tiny shrimp...

At 8:30 PM we met up with our guide Jasper Doest and suited up for the boat trip. There are numerous guides that make this trip from the local harbor and I think they are all quite competent. We were provided with insulated flotation suits just in case. At 9:00 PM we were underway and began the 20 km trip. The crossing took about 90 minutes and we passed numerous bird cliffs filled with guillemot, petrels and puffins on the way.

Johan waiting for something to fly by.

Once in the bay we slowed down and looked at the various ice formations, birds and seals...

Kittiwakes

You can see how fractured the ice is and there was some calving going on, but we never seemed to be fast enough to catch it on film.

As we cruised around the bay we enjoyed a hot meal that our guide had brought along. Midnight dining in a glacial harbor, the view was spectacular and thankfully since there were no winds the temperature was quite comfortable.

2:00AM we were back in the harbor of Longyearbyen, greeting by the local welcoming committee. Another wild and crazy night in the midnight sun.

Svalbard Nature When the Sun Never Sets...

June 18-20

You lose track of time on Svalbard, photographing until three in the morning and then taking naps midday to catch up on lost sleep, and it doesn't matter when you try to sleep it's always too light. It's a unique experience. Like all Arctic locations in the summer, the sun never sets, and two days before the summer solstice the sun was as high in the sky as it was going to get. Even midday the sun is not as high as it is closer to the equator, but still the best times for photography when the sun is shining is from 6PM-6AMm, and with just a little cloud cover the light becomes nicely diffused and makes for great shooting any time of day.

Another interesting thing about Svalbard is the native animals lack of fear for humans. The ptarmigans were more annoyed with us than anything else, as we kept lying down in front of them to photograph.

A spring of melting ice water bubbles up from the ground...

In the harbor a seal relaxes in the evening sun, annoyed by the paparazzi...

A snow bunting near Longyearbyen, Johan took a similar picture that earned him an award at the London Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

Little auks returning to their nesting grounds in the cliffs

Remnants of the old mine in Longyearbyen

The only down side of our trip was that we were limited to Longyearbyen and the area reachable by car or on foot. To make the most of a trip to Svalbard a cruise is worth considering.

Nature In the Midnight Sun of Svalbard

June 16

After the great time we had photographing the eagles of Norway, and the great idea Ole-Martin had about Johan entering the youth category of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest we needed a new destination. Having a lot of bonus points with SAS I looked at the potential destinations I could reach on points, and lo and behold there was Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen, Svalbard; an exotic arctic destination for the same number of bonus points as any destination in Norway. This was made to order.
Wanting to make the best of our visit we found photographer Jasper Doest who would be holding workshop on Svalbard in June and we signed up.
We landed at Longyearbyen Airport at 8:45PM on the same flight as Jasper, a day ahead of the workshop but Jasper agreed to show us around and take a few pictures in the evening sun.
The first thing Jasper did was pick up the Jeep rental car from the airport. The second thing he did was pick up a rental rifle from the local super market. Although rare, polar bears are still a risk, and it is not permitted to leave town without a rifle. We checked into the hotel and unpacked our bags and then rendezvoused with Jasper for a little reconnaissance of the area, the rifle along in the back of the Jeep.

There is only one road into and out of Longyearbyen, the choice was pretty easy...

This arctic fox was wandering around the outskirts of Longyearbyen at 11:30PM looking for a meal.

Purple sandpiper at midnight

Long-tailed duck at 1:45AM. This is where we had to call it quits for the day. The sun is still over the horizon, but out bodies are finally telling us it's time to go to bed.

Svalbard reindeer, notice the very short legs, which reduce loss of body heat in the extreme winters.

The next morning down by the shore this beautiful grey phalarope came quite close and posed for us.

And the arctic turns are diving for food and courting at the shore in Longyearbyen.

Jesper dropped us of at the Svalbard Hotel at 2AM, and now it was time to make some steak dinner/breakfast. We were in bed by 3AM and the sun was just as bright as it had been since we arrived. I used my SAS eye cover and fell asleep in a matter of minutes...

Sunrise Birds in Bangalore

March 17

After a long flight from Frankfurt to Bangalore we finally landed around 12:30 in the morning, and then had to the queue to get into the country. Passports and visas stamped,  bags collected and loaded into the taxi we head for the Gateway Hotel on Residency road, a short walk from the office. 2:30AM and we finally make it into bed, thank heavens tomorrow is Saturday. The office is open, but not at full strength so after a few meetings in the morning our host Ravi takes us out for a bit of site-seeing. While visiting a nearby temple I see three lovely models in traditional dress posing for a photographer, I mount my Sigma 150/2,8 macro lens and stand a few feet behind him as he photographs. With no warning he simply gets into his waiting car and is driven away, before the girls have a chance to move I ask if I can take a few shots and they agree. Talk about Karma..

The next morning we see these ladies pictures on the front page of a Bangalore newspaper, wishing everyone a happy Ugadi (New Year).
We continue our site-seeing with a walk around Lal Bagh Botanical gardens and on crossing a bridge over one of the lakes we see the hungry carp competing for the crumbs being thrown by visitors. Armed for bird photography I get a close up shot with the 400/5.6

Since it's a full work day on Sunday I make arrangements with the front desk for an early morning photo excursion. At 4:45 a driver picks me up and drives me to a reservoir about 45 minutes away. It's pitch black and I see people sleeping along the road, while others have already begun making their way into town on foot, on bicycle or waiting for buses.
As we near the reservoir it begins getting light very quickly, and at 6:30 the sun begins its very quick ascent. The light near the equator deteriorates quickly, by 9AM it's just to bright. But we still have an hour or so of good light.

A little green bee-eater poses on a barbed wire fence and using my 500/4+2X extender I get close enough for a full-frame shot.

Closer to the reservoir a Brahminy kite is finishing up a fish it has caught and at 7:30 it is time to head to the office. .

The return trip takes 90 minutes and I make it into the office by 9AM. I give my driver a $5 tip and he is ecstatic, he asks if I will make another trip. "Tomorrow morning" I tell him and he says he will be ready.

On our return trip the next morning I have the good fortune to see a red-naped ibis who lets us get close enough to only need the 500/4+1.4X extender

In the shallows of the reservoir a little egret is having a feast on the many small fish.

While a short distance away a greenshank and his reflection break the mirror-like surface of the shallows.

It's 7:30 and time to head back, but a little ringed plover poses and allows me a few shots before head back into the noise and chaos of downtown Bangalore.

If you make it to Bangalore, don't limit yourself to the city, there is fantastic nature and landscapes to be seen within a short distance from the city. But remember to get up early if you want the best light.

Eagle Aerobatics in Norway Day 2

June 6

Day one of our eagle photography in Lauvsnes, Norway was beyond our wildest expectations with 24 close displays by the eagles. Even Ole-Martin our guide was impressed since that tied his earlier record. Day two proved to be a more normal day with about 10 fly-bys. But since we already had hundreds of great images this gave us a little more time to catch our breath and and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Norway has a reputation for it's stunning landscapes and fjords, and we were not disappointed.

So after another incredibly successful day there was only one cloud on the horizon, and that was the weather forecast which called for strong winds the next day. Being somewhat prone to sea-sickness Johan and I took this as an invitation to photograph something on land the next day, and we decided to make a short 8 hour drive to the Island of Runde for a couple of days before heading home to Sweden.

Eagle Aerobatics in Norway - Day 1

June 5

Our Norwegian sea-eagle adventure began when Swedish bird photographer/bird watcher C.G. Gustavsson contacted me out of the blue back in November and asked if I would be interested in sharing the costs for a session with Norway's most famous eagle guide Ole Martin Dahle. It took us about 3 seconds to make up our minds. So after seven long months of waiting Johan (12) and I touched down with SAS in Trondheim picked up our rental car and began the three hour drive north. This was somewhat of a budget arrangement, outside of the normal guiding season and schedule which meant we had budget accommodations as well. Ole-Martin made arrangements with a neighbor who had a rental flat that we could rent; a one bedroom flat with a kitchen, which was just fine with us.

So after getting settled in we made an early night of it and then were up at 6AM to meet Ole-Martin and head for his boat and to meet his good friends the sea-eagles.
Johan and I used the Canon 500/4IS and the 400/5.6, both work well from a distance, but for some of the closer shots a 300/2.8 would have been a better choice with the potential for shallower depth of field and wider field of view.

As you can see there were plenty of eagles, and they seemed to recognize Ole-Martin and his boat. But we also tossed bread to the seagulls on the way out to the eagles territory. The eagles are smart enough to understand that where there is a flock of seagulls there must be food. So from their vantage points several kilometers away they came to see what all the commotion was about.
This was Johan's first effort at serious in-flight photography, but he did brilliantly. You just can't deny that kids have much quicker reflexes than adults, I guess in part from all the computer games.
Later that evening Ole-Martin showed us some of the images made by previous visitors, among them a teenager whose image of a red  squirrel placed in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest. This became an inspiration for Johan who consequently placed twice in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest, first in 2008 and again in 2010 (see separate post).