National Geographic Expedition: Iceland / Greenland / NW Passage

August 24, 2014 in National Geographic |

Polar bear sniffing the air
Olympus E-M1 50-200mm lens

More than three weeks on a National Geographic Expedition, “Iceland/Greenland/NW Passage,” and just recovered our Internet access!! (I don’t think Franklin nor Amundsen had to worry about losing connection to the rest of the world during their exploratory voyages here.) An amazing trip, most of it spent within the Canadian archipelago. Photographic opportunities were abundant, a few during late night/early morning, but such is the nature of an Expedition. I found the noise handling of the Olympus E-M1 as a very powerful tool..the photo of the Inuit in Pond Inlet was shot at 6400, with virtually no noise. Impressive. Photographing the wildlife in the Arctic does require patience..we’d see Polar bear miles out ahead of the ship, on a piece of ice..usually a slightly off-color looking continuation of the white background. Pushing through ice, slowly as to not frighten off the animal, could take an hour-plus. Several times, after standing on the bow in freezing conditions for that time, the bear would react to our presence by turning and taking off. However, there were enough “close encounters” to provide many long sessions of watching/photographing these stunning animals in their world. We’re now in Resolute, Canada, one of the most northerly communities in the world. Fog and weather eliminated our out-bound flight yesterday, and it’s snowing today (this is August 21) with a few inches accumulation expected. As I type, the National Geographic Explorer is heading out for one more trips into the ice; the sound of ice sliding by the sides of the ship overwhelms the ambient sounds aboard the vessel. Perhaps, more bears.