Hot on the heels of my Greenland trip and the heavy focus on ice, it seemed like an appropriate time to revisit compositions utilizing icebergs, though in Antarctica for this particular shoot.
Icebergs and ice are an increasingly important topic in recent years, as climate change is becoming more of a resounding, everyday issue. On a recent trip to Antarctica I developed a personal project of capturing the ice in as artistic of a way as possible. During the day, cruise ship passengers disembarked in Zodiacs to go ashore and view penguins. I have photographed a lot of penguins, so my mission became the ice that was floating in the vicinity. On this particular trip I asked a Zodiac driver to take me over to a distant iceberg that I could see towering over all of the other icebergs. It looked almost like a cathedral, standing out there over a 150 feet above its surrounding neighbors.
This first image shows the dramatic angle of the pinnacle of ice as it’s surrounded by smaller icebergs. As usual I circled my subject and look at it from all angles before settling on an image.
As we travel around the iceberg it takes on a slightly different shape. This new vantage point allows me to incorporate more of the surrounding icebergs in the foreground.
Here I am able to incorporate a foreground “bergie bit” (little piece of iceberg) that is found floating around its larger cousins. I am using a 16-35mm wide angle zoom lens and a polarizer to compose this image. My main objective is to balance the foreground ice with the iceberg in the distance.
I put on my 70-200mm zoom and circled back around to the location where I captured my initial composition in image 1. I chose to shoot a vertical to emphasize the vertical sweep of this dramatic iceberg.
I noticed a distant iceberg with an arch and directed the Zodiac to it. As we headed over to it I put my wide angle zoom back on. I circled this iceberg looking for a point of view in which to include with my initial perspective.
This composition reveals the first iceberg in a very beautiful way. I also love the way the green arch surrounds the distant blue icebergs, and how the wide angle gives the image a nice perspective by incorporating some of the blue green ice just below the surface.
I decided to go back to my 70-200 to try to pull in that distant iceberg. This lens allowed me to compress the scene while still keeping the strong foreground element of the arched iceberg in my composition. However, because I am further away now, you can see the blue sky above the arched iceberg. I have lost the drama that I had with the last image.
I zoomed in to try and eliminate the sky from the previous shot,but in doing so I have lost the top of the distant iceberg.
This is my favorite image in the series. It conveys the drama of the arch, it frames the iceberg in the distance perfectly, and it has a nice sense of color with the blues and greens.
The result is 3 or 4 distinctly different compositions of the same iceberg, which demonstrates how perseverance and a change of perspective can yield a stronger set of images.
These unique perspectives are the kinds of things I’m always looking for in any location I visit. To learn more, check out my workshops page and explore them yourself! We have a couple exciting events coming up – join me next week in my home state of Washington and photograph the lush Olympic forest at the Lake Quinault Photography Retreat, and in November I will be leading a photography workshop to explore Hawaii from new and exciting perspectives. See you there!
This time around, I’m on the coast of eastern Greenland photographing the austere landscape, ice in it’s many forms, and the local wildlife. You may be surprised to know that in my 4-plus-decade career, this is my first trip here! Fortunately I’ve done my research and the location didn’t disappoint. Don’t forget to check out the blog post and stock site for more photos from this location. Time is also running out on our print sale, where you can save 20% on just about any image in my collection!
My staff was thrilled that I finally was traveling to a new location: the world’s largest island, Greenland. Our Luminous Landscape group met in Svalbard, and from there sailed across the misty Greenland Sea and down the eastern coast of Northeast Greenland National Park. We were able to make Zodiac landings to explore the rugged landscape that was already turning autumn copper and red. The immense icebergs were the true rock stars of the journey, and we felt dwarfed by their stories-tall spires. They are dangerous as well; if you are too close when one rolls over -and they do- they could swamp and kill a boatload of people. In the final days of the trip I was able to capture some the most spectacularly perfect reflections I have ever seen – truly a fantasy world of ice.
See more photos from this shoot on my stock site, and remember – save 20% on just about any of my images as a print through this month only with the Pick-Your-Print of the Month!
Excellent photos and inspiring words from Andrew Snyder regarding our trip to Katmai, Alaska! Andrew was a recipient of the Luminous Endowment’s Art Wolfe Next-Generation Photographer’s Grant. His essay is full of some great tips and insights from Katmai – give it a read!
The Luminous Endowment provides grants to photographers world-wide to pursue photographic projects. Learn how you can apply for the various upcoming grants they provide.
In this edition of Where’s Art?,I’m in my home state of Washington, visting the Olympic National Park – specifically Shi Shi beach, located in the northwestern most corner of the contiguous United States, to capture the rocky and rugged coastline that can be found here. We shot at all hours of the day and into the night, as photographing the stars over the shoreline in this location so far removed from the bright lights of any major city for an upcoming book project was my primary goal here.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Where’s Art?, and stay tuned as I am currently in Greenland where we will record another episode very soon!
On the very first day of the second leg of my Glacier Bay journey, we were able to capture some terrific shots of humpback whales. They bubblenetted and surfaced, spraying water and herring – then they all disappeared. Luckily there were very busy orca in the vicinity, rafts of sea otters, and a cacophony of sea lions. What a spectacular part of the world!
This is a trip I do every year without fail. I have been coming here since the late 1970s and have never been disappointed. Join me in 2018 on the Alaska Story yacht! Space is extremely limited, so consider reserving your spot now.
What a great week in Alaska’s Glacier Bay. I’ve been coming here for four decades now, and it seems every visit provides an abundance of new opportunities to capture. The humpback whales were lively, and the bald eagles couldn’t have put on a better display for us to photograph.
If you’re interested in joining me on my next adventure, check out my workshops happening in the near future. In just over a week I’ll be off to northern Canada seeking the legendary tundra wolf, and this fall I’ll be hosting an intimate photography retreat on the Olympic Peninsula where we will photograph the Quinault Rainforest. Space is limited, so sign up before we are sold out!
I hope everyone is having a great summer so far, and enjoy the photos!
Take a virtual journey and check out a few of my favorites taken between April 1st and June 30th! It’s been a busy but productive few months that has offered a variety of opportunities. Locations include: Central Africa (photographing those vast herds of elephants seems so long ago!), Washington’s Olympic Peninsula & San Juan Island, Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge, and California’s Point Reyes National Seashore.
Episode 3 of Where’s Art is now up for your viewing pleasure! In case you missed them, you can check out all of the episodes of this segment so far on the Where’s Art section of my multimedia page. We have some exciting new ideas in store for this segment in the future!
This time around, I was on location in California visiting the Point Reyes National Seashore. I like to make this trip whenever I’m in the San Francisco area. There is such an array of wildlife – from bobcats to a variety of birds – it’s hard to come away unsatisfied. Special thanks to Daniel Dietrich for being my field guide during this trip!
After trips to present Photography As Art in Toronto and Chicago, I spent several days last week photographing just a very few of the over 1,500 species of plants and, in particular, animals of Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California.
This is an area that has been engaged in a back and forth battle between ranchers, developers, and environmentalists, with a fascinating history and political seesaw that resonates today. It is so important that we, and generations to come, have these wild places to retreat to. You can read about it here, or better yet, make a trip of it and support your public lands.
“It is in the wild places, where the edge of the earth meets the corners of the sky, the human spirit is fed.”
Enjoy the photos, and keep an eye on the blog in the coming days for another edition of my new and well received audio/video segment, “Where’s Art?”from this location!
