The Luminous-Landscape Svalbard Expedition 2018

Svalbard – June 22 – July 2, 2018

Instructors – Kevin Raber and Peter Eastway

An amazing adventure exploring one of the most regions of the world.  You’ll see spectacular wildlife, Polar Bears, and so much more.

The Arctic summer has arrived, the midnight sun reigns supreme and the purple saxifrage decorates the slopes. The ice is slowly starting to loosen its grip, which offers good opportunities to explore the seldom-visited eastern parts of the archipelago. With ten nights on board, we have plenty of time for grand nature experiences and wildlife encounters.

Join Peter and me for a very special Svalbard Workshop with the Luminous Landscape. The accommodations will be onboard the Sea Endurance. This is an eleven-day trip will allow us ample time to explore this fascinating region.

This is an adventure tailored to photographers.  We will take the Sea Endurance, one of my favorite expedition ships and push our way north into the sea ice above Svalbard.  If all goes well we will spend a few days drifting with the ice pack and waiting for the polar bears to come to us.  This will be an excellent chance to observe bears on the ice pack.

We will then head south and cruise to some the most amazing places you’ll ever see.  We’ll cruise along the Austfonna Ice Cap.  This is one f the most amazing sites I have ever witnessed.  It’s a wall of ice as far as you can see.  There are dozens of waterfalls flowing from the top of the ice pack.  Combine this with the right light and you’ll come home with images from this location that will amaze your friends.

We’ll also visit the Alkefjellet Bird Cliff.  This is another one of those places that will be a once in a lifetime experience.  You’ll probably never witness so many birds in one place.  These birds are all nested on this cliff and the Sea Endurance will give us the perfect platform to photograph this amazing site.

We’ll also do zodiac cruises along numerous glacier fronts and with some luck, we’ll witness some dramatic calving.   When conditions permit (there being no bears nearby) we’ll do landings so that you can photograph the incredible landscapes.  each landing will have something special to offer.  Our expedition team will make sure we are guided to the best locations.

All along the way Peter and I will be there to help you see the best composition.  We’ll help you with the best lens selection, exposures and other techniques that will help you capture the best images.  Back on board the ship, we’ll spend time in the observation lounge where we can do our first editing of images.  Peter and I will help you choose the best image and help you edit it to maximize the impact of the image.  We are both experts with Lightroom and Capture One as well as Photoshop and other programs.  We’ll give a few lectures too that will show you how to find the potential that may be hidd3en in your images.

A few years ago I did this trip with friend Peter Cox and he wrote an article here on Luminous Landscape.  This article will give you an idea of what to expect.  Of course, weather and ice conditions will dictate where we can go but if all goes as planned this is a good representation of what you can expect. Take a look at Peter’s article Photographing In The Arctic – Svalbard.

I have an entry in my blog with a gallery of images I made on one of my trips to Svalbard.  Svalbard The Arctic

Kevin Raber: It’s all about the passion . . . the passion of photography and the beauty of the world that I get an opportunity to see and capture with my camera.  I have been doing photography since I was 12 and since that first day and up to today and I am sure tomorrow, I find myself consumed with taking and making great photographs. My history runs deep and I have progressed through many stages of photography in my lifetime.  I had studios in the Philadelphia area, I worked for one of the premier color labs in the country and I was a big part of the digital revolution that has enveloped photography today.  Today I am the publisher of Luminous-landscape one of the most visited websites on the world wide web for photo pros and enthusiasts. Previously, for 13 years I worked for Phase One a very progressive camera company making the finest cameras in the world.  My job allows me to work with photographers from around the globe and to photograph in some of the most beautiful places there are.  I am blessed with a job I love and many friends I have made along the way.

Peter Eastway APP.L, GM. Photog., FNZIPP, Hon. FAIPP, Hon. FNZIPP, FAIPP. Peter Eastway is a contemporary Australian photographer who is known internationally for his landscape and travel work. A practicing professional photographer, he shoots editorially and works selectively in advertising and portraiture, two diverse ends of the professional sphere. Peter has been involved in photographic magazine publishing for over 30 years, establishing his own title, Australia’s Better Photography Magazine, in 1995. It is now one of Australia’s leading photography magazines. Peter’s work has been published and exhibited internationally. He was the author of the Lonely Planet’s Guide to Landscape Photography. His photography has recently featured on the cover of the Lonely Planet’s guide to Australia, in articles in the Qantas inflight magazine, and in an Apple television commercial. He has worked with Phase One cameras, researching and promoting its high-end medium format cameras and Capture One raw processing software. And he featured in the television series Tales By Light as seen on the National Geographic Channel, produced in partnership with Canon Australia. Peter Eastway is an AIPP Grand Master of Photography, a Fellow and an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography, and a Fellow and Honorary Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography. He won the 1996 and 1998 AIPP Australian Professional Photographer of the Year Award.
More recently he won the 2009 Kodak Award of Distinction at the International WPPI Print Competition held in Las Vegas, USA; the AIPP NSW Professional Photographer of the Year 2010; and the AIPP NSW Landscape Photographer of the Year 2013. Peter’s early landscapes were primarily black and white, carefully printed and toned, but with the advent of digital photography, he is taking a leading role internationally, creating a New Tradition of high-quality landscape imagery. Peter speaks nationally and internationally on topics including landscape photography, Photoshop techniques, publishing and the business of professional photography. Peter is a member of the ND5 Ninety Degrees Five collective with Christian and Michael Fletcher, Tony Hewitt and Les Walkling.

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The Ship

Accommodation – Cabin on board the Sea Endurance
Length – 11 Days and 10 nights on the ship.
We have 24 spots available.

Please note: It is always possible to share a cabin on board Sea Endurance. All cabins have windows and private facilities.

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Price Includes:

10 nights on board Sea Endurance. All meals on board. Coffee and tea. An experienced Expedition Leader and knowledgeable guides. Guiding ashore and talks on board. All excursions and activities. Comprehensive information material before the expedition. An illustrated post-expedition log

Not included:

Flight to/from Longyearbyen. Travel and cancellation insurance. The customary gratuity to the ship’s crew. Personal expenses such as bar and shop charges.

We suggest you arrive a day early to make sure there are no flight delay and lost baggage issues.  There are a few nice hotels in Longyearbyen and we’ll be happy to help you select one for your arrival date. In many cases also I have stayed overnight after getting off the ship to have a day to relax before the long journey home.  Please communicate with us about any questions regarding arrivals and departures.

Itinerary:

Day 1: Longyearbyen

We arrive in Longyearbyen, embark our expedition ship in the afternoon and sail out through the spectacular Isfjorden.

Day 2 – 10: Svalbard

We are now in a part of the world where we are totally dependent on the ice and weather conditions. Our exact itinerary depends on these factors and on the wildlife we encounter. Our ambition is to make landings or cruises every day with our Zodiacs. Here are some examples of places we may visit:

Northwest Spitsbergen
The scientific village of Ny-Ålesund is situated in Kongsfjorden. It was from here that Amundsen and Nobile started their heroic expeditions to the North Pole. Two other courageous attempts to reach the North Pole started on the island of Danskøya. Swedish balloonist Andrée made an attempt with a hydrogen balloon and American journalist Wellman started with an airship. There are still interesting remnants from these expeditions left on this site.

Magnificent fjords
Svalbard offers the visitor countless spectacular fjords. During our journey, we will explore a few of them such as Liefdefjorden, meaning “The fjord of love”, is lined with snow-covered mountain peaks and here we hope to cruise along the face of the spectacular Monaco Glacier. Many common eiders and pink-footed geese nest in the area. In Krossfjorden we revel in the beautifully sculptured front of the 14th of July Glacier to the raucous greeting of a large number of kittiwakes and Brünnich’s guillemots nesting on the nearby cliffs. Raudfjorden is an area of immense natural beauty – dominated by beautiful glaciers. It is also a favorite spot for seals and the bird cliffs are bursting with activity.

Hinlopen Strait and Alkefjellet
If the ice allows we enter Hinlopen Strait. Here is Alkefjellet, an impressive, basaltic cliff, which is the home to an estimated 200 000 Brünnich’s guillemots. We may also continue into the beautiful bay Palanderbukta on Nordaustlandet.

Eastern Svalbard
The island of Nordaustlandet is covered by an enormous ice cap and fascinates naturalists as well as historians. There are huge glacier fronts here, intersected by hundreds of waterfalls. Barentsøya and Edgeøya offer magnificent landscapes and vast tundra. Chances to encounter walruses, Arctic fox, and Svalbard reindeer are good here.

Southwest Spitsbergen
The grand fjords of Hornsund offer spectacular glaciers and a breathtaking landscape of towering mountain peaks, often reaching above the clouds. On a clear day, we can see the summit of the highest mountain Hornsundtind, measuring 1431 meters. Hornsund is a favorite haunt for some of Svalbard’s polar bears and bearded seals are often seen resting on the fjord ice.

Day 11: Longyearbyen

Early morning we disembark our expedition ship and begin our journey back home.

Please note: Our exact route will depend on ice, weather conditions and wildlife. The places mentioned are just examples of some of the many sites Svalbard has to offer. We always strive to maximize your experience. Please remember that flexibility is the key to a successful expedition!

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Mark your calendars.  More information can be found at Rockhopper Workshops

Kevin Raber
October 2017

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