Svalbard

Step Of Giants

Awarded Bronze Medal 🥉in Category Fine Art & Action At World's Top10 Black&White Photo Contest 2021 - ONE EYE LAND In frame, the students from the Arctic Nature guide of Svalbard leading an amazing expedition in early June 2021, crossing on the glacier tops, surrounded by some of the most amazing landscapes we can find on earth. Not everyone on this planet is lucky enough to live this kind of experience, and my love for photography comes from this; showing what some can never see... They look so soft, so white, and so smooth. When covered with snow, glaciers look so welcoming. An empty space asking to be discovered and explored; but what lays underneath can lead to serious danger. Glaciers are unstable and a lot of knowledge and confidence is needed to traverse from a place to another when walking on these hundred of meters thick ice.

A Wall Of Fog

A unique site captured during summer 2020. The fog accumulated due to the breaking record temperatures observed in July 2020 in Svalbard, in the high Arctic. It is mostly concentrated above the seawater, and dissipates once close to the glacier front as air temperatures decrease. Navigating in these conditions can be extremely hard due to growlers and bergy bits patrolling the Arctic waters. When we started the evening, we left town around 6.30 PM and a complete thick fog not able to see 50m ahead of us. I was guiding the whole evening tour in search of wildlife. On our way to the glacier front, we had the most amazing humpback whale accounter in the pitch special blind silence. An unforgatable story that I hope to tell you in person one day. We were able to locate this amazing female polar bear this same evening, at 11 pm, as she adventured swimming to the rocky island giving us incredible backlight and silhouette. It is hard to describe with words the feeling of seeing her owning the place, thinking that she has plain power, control of her area and great food supply here.. Nature is powerful.

Minimalism In Shade

We are riding deeper through narrow V shaped valley, carved by river, with deep snow covered sides. The gracious shapes and lines that constitute this composition caught my attention straight on arrival. The correlation between these snow waves, the leading lines appearing from different depths are guiding your eyes through the frame, and the shadows casted on the hill sides enhance so well the subject. This shot on 55mm gets a little less crowded and more minimalistic compared to what i often shoot, but still brings full attention from every corner to the center.

Trapped In Fast Ice

Mohnbukta - Eastcoast Spitsbergen This frozen ground allows us to travel in between these giant icebergs trapped in the ice. These huge chunks of ice calve from the glacier front, get transported away by the currents and the winds until winter comes and lock them in. They are incredible formations to witness from up close and are the perfect shelter for polar bears during windy and freezing days when the temperature can plummet under -40 degrees Celcius.

Landing To The Cabin

Located at the entrance of Isfjord, Tryghamna was frequently used as a safe harbor by whalers. It is an area really protected from the rough winds and swell coming from the open sea on the other side. The cultural heritage located there is unique as we can still find remains of the whaling era (17th century), and also Russian & Norwegian overwintering trapping (18th Century. In this photograph, we can see the Syssel Master Cabin at the entrance of the fjord. All the way to the end, we find the cold Kjerulf Glacier lit by the 11 PM Sun, at the end of July. This place is only accessible by boat, which makes it really unique. Wildlife thrives in huge numbers here and this time of the year is the best moment to admire one of the most powerful natural events that happen every year for only a day in Svalbard in the Alcidae bird kingdom.

The Expedition

Winner 🏆of the TOP 10 ranking in FRANCE for the Black&White Photo Contest 2021- with ONE EYE LAND - Awarded Bronze Medal 🥉in Category Fine Art & Action At World's Top10 Black&White Photo Contest 2021- ONE EYE LAND We engaged on a skiing expedition, traversing and camping on the tops of the glaciers for a few days. Not only the landscape was amazing, but I learned amazing skills and so much more about these giants of ice. The range of skills of the students is really wide, and it was truly an experience to learn on the terrain; guaranteeing safety on the glacier before putting up a camp, probing for eventual crevasses, positioning the camp wisely, planning polar bear guard schedules, orientating tents within the campsite, building up the tent and managing self space, placement of toilets, and much more. In the frame, three students from the Outdoor Nature Guide School, who led this incredible expedition by blending great skills, knowledge, and fun. Capturing this kind of moment is unique but quite hard also. We are in polar bear land here, we cannot stay behind, alone, waiting for hours to grab the right light for a single shot. We stick to the group to assure safety, and it can be quite hard for someone who is used to patience.

Second Camp Second Bear

Sveabreen - North Side Twenty-four hours after camping out for 4 days in Adolfbukta with Norwegian guests, I was already preparing to take six Italian guests to my next camp this time on the side of Svea glacier. This photograph has a powerful story. Firstly, the unique thing about it is that it was the view we had from our toilet tent installed for the camp, taken at midnight. What better place to be when having some inner self moment with your own mind... Secondly, This capture is the reason for our lack of sleep during these days. Indeed, on the second night, the rain came over, which heavily limited our visibility. At 4.10 AM, We got alarmed as we spotted a huge polar bear, about 2km away from our camp, patrolling the area, and disappearing behind the moraine hills. This left us restless and wide opened eyes during the following 5 hours, trying to spot the bear, making sure the camp is safe and ready to evacuate once more. We did leave the camp a few hours before the original plan to ensure not staying here too long when this king of predator is around. But this night, we never saw the bear again..

Ember Of Ice

A piece of textured ice is floating into Kongsfjorden's flat waters, in Svalbard, where we find the last breath of the gulf stream. When the sun shines through the thousand-year-old glacial ice, we perceive the contrasted game of light and shadows, the liquid and hard states of matter, the loss of sense of scale, of perspectives and dimensions. It could remind of the copper hot melted shapes, but it is, in reality, the glacial erosion of the salted sea water on the freshwater blocks that creates these various deep textures; The pure and abstract side of nature.

Solitary Young

Wahlenbergbreen - Isfjord - Spitsbergen We slowly approached the ice front, looking for walruses or isolated seals when, in the far back, we found this young and lonely polar bear, walking in front of the Wahlenberg glacier. A moment like such is always so intense. From the instant we spot this yellow stain in the middle of the white snow, we feel this immense wave of excitement rushing through our body, thinking, we found a polar beast. In this same place a few months later, the ice was gone, I had the extreme luck to observe 6 polar bears in one spot feasting on a walrus carcass. Definitely not a usual thing to see in Isfjorden. It was in fact two female adults with two cubs of the last year for each female. That moment was quite special to see as their behavior was incredible, noticing playful and sharing interactions between the two families.

Serenity

A young juvenile black-legged kittiwake is resting on a big iceberg spit out of Monaco Glacier in the North of Svalbard. By looking at the waterline, we can almost hear the silence and the water slowly and calmly licking the bottom of the huge block of ice

The Nagging Mountain

Gnålberget - Hornsund This incredible cliffside of 790m tall dropping into the fjord is home to thousands of nesting black-legged kittiwakes and Brünnich’s guillemots. These birds are responsible for the constant noise during the nesting season that has given the place its name (“gnål” means “nagging” in Norwegian) Few hours before reaching this spot, we stopped by the Polish research station of Isbjørnhamna, 10 nautical miles west, at the entrance of Hornsund, to drop off some scientists who will stay in the area to study about the glaciers and the environment. On our arrival, we got warned that a polar bear was seen two hours before, and flares were shot to get him away from the station. It is only at the moment of our departure toward Gnålberget that we noticed the polar bears being curious once more, approaching the station, which forced us to reach the scientists by Radio VHF to warn them about the potential danger coming ahead.

A Cub In Town

AlkeFjellet - Hinlopen Straight Located in some of the most remote areas of the archipelago of Svalbard, Alkefjellet is a powerful place that hosts some of the biggest colonies of birds in the Arctic. This cliffside is kilometers long and the birds are inhabiting it as if it was a huge city, with a lower concentration on the outer part of the cliffs, and as a central business district overcrowded when reaching the middle and most impressive wall. It almost feels like they all have different wealth, living in the richest parts of the cliffs for some, and in the poorest neighborhoods for others. Rare are the captures of a young polar bear cub looking for a bird snack at the bottom of these cliffs. This little healthy and fluffy girl definitely made that shot unique and special. At the moment, we felt a little concerned for this little female being here alone, looking for food without mummy around. But the day after this sight, another vessel sent us an iridium satellite message saying they had found the mother sleeping in between the rocks a hundred meters behind her, which made all of us so happy for her.

Taking Care

Svalbard Expedition Up North - with Latitude Blanche - Onboard PolarFront This beautiful healthy female was spotted few kilometers into the valley, walking her little cubs of the year by the drifted wood found on the shores here and toward the carcass of a whale in Lomfjorden, North East of Spitsbergen. Polar bears have evolved over a long period of time to live on fat-rich diets and cannot survive by eating plants, like brown or black bears can. 

Polar bears evolved from brown (grizzly) bears about 500,000 years ago, - They must have survived at least three or four warm and largely ice-free interglacial periods in the past. 
The most likely explanation available to date seems to be that polar bears likely survived primarily by scavenging on whale (or another marine mammal) carcasses considering the large populations that must have been abundant in the Arctic before the arrival of humans and their hunting manners.

The First Set

Captured on the last day of August 2021, close to the airport of Longyearbyen, just by the seashore, this light was so needed. After four months of constant daylight, It was such a pleasure to finally see some colorful sky.

The White Wall

Here was the proper feeling of being facing the wall of the North. Some moody light was here to lead us along that huge barrier of ice. So much wildlife is patrolling this area including bears hunting on the drift ice, walruses, and many seals such as common seals and ringed seals. Austfonna is an ice cap located on Nordaustlandet in the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. It covers an area of 7,800 km2. It is Europe's third-largest glacier by area and volume, after the Severny Island ice cap of Novaya Zemlya, Russia, and Vatnajökull in Iceland.

Union Of Fulmars

The union between Svalbard's landscape and its wildlife. Spending quality time facing the sandstone tops eroded by the harsh Arctic climate. Here, hundreds of birds have found a home. Fulmars are breeding and thriving on these faces, patrolling the skies, constantly being loud and alarmed. They also provide gigantic amount of nutriments down bellow on the steep high slopes, profitable for reindeers coming to feed on the flourishing tundra. How much more could you ask for? All is here in this one catch.

Resting Souls

Danskøya - North West Spitsbergen A little colony of Walruses is taking a rest after feeding in the shallow waters.

La Banquise

At this time of the year, late August 2021, there was a huge patch of drift ice that disconnected from the pack ice connected to the North pole, drifting toward the South. We started to see a white line on the horizon until we finally reached these giant plates of ice, and heard the first "Bang" on the boat hull. The evening was incredible as the light was striking through the fog, offering incredible moments to remember. We even managed to find a polar bear jumping around on the ice around 2 AM with this stunning diffused sun, but he eventually went for a swim between the ice and became impossible to find.

Pris au Piège

I captured this amazing scene and ephemeral landscape when traveling through the drift ice on the Eastern side of Naurdeastlandet. We launched the zodiacs in the water and went out looking for a safe piece of ice to land on. The expedition leader at that time got us a little too far inside the ice and hummocks blocks which slowly started to close on us due to the currents and winds, getting us trapped into the drift ice. At this moment we realize how crazy it must have been to be one of the first explorers in the late 18 hundreds, with a wooden boat, getting locked into the ice drifting toward the Northpole with no way of being rescued by anyone. Our zodiac ended up in a position where no movement was possible, we were simply drifting with the currents and the ice flow. We finally had to call our mother ship on the radio VHF to come and break the ice around us to set us free of this trap so we could get out safely and carry on our little mission.

On The Top

She is on top of the food chain, and shows it proudly, standing on the shoulders of the giants in the Arctic. Being able to observe her behavior, watching her movements, seeing her looking away, undisturbed, owning the glacier front; this is priceless. These are some of the best sightings I have had within my last 9 years of traveling the world. I am so much in love with this fragile environment, its biodiversity, and seeing it living with my own eyes everyday, being able to guide it, and show it to passionate people is the best reward I could ask for.

Spiral Waves

Couple of weeks back, we had the chance to head down toward Hornsund, to the Polish Research Station, and pick up a few scientists in order to bring them back toward civilisation in Longyearbyen. The few hours spent on spot revealed untouched and incredible photography opportunities with multiples sea stacks at the entrance of the big fjord where waves are dancing. The Golden Spiral compo is here solid, from the soft coloured foreground, sea weed and water reflections, it leads your eye around toward that timed crashing wave.

Get Lost

Svalbard's landscapes are just breathtaking. They are so immense that it is hard to translate the magnitude of a scene up here. Many of my friends and followers know my addiction for adding a tiny subject to add the sense of scale.. here is a tiny rider on a snowmobile, about to get lost into this old moraine at the bottom of the glacier.