Day 11
by Michelle Alten
Lilliehookbreen; Fjortende Julibreen
Zodiac in front of the Lilliehookbreen
Nikon D4, Lens: VR 70-200mm f/2.8G, Focal Length: 180mm, ISO 100, Aperture: f/9, Shutter Speed: 1/320s, Exposure Comp.: -0.3EV
Our last day in the Arctic arrives. Today, the water is as calm as a mountain pond. We motor quietly in our zodiacs at the Lilliehookbreen, looking and photographing. Beluga whales, a pod with more than a dozen, thread their way through the water creating puffs as they blow and splashes as they re-enter the water. Kittiwakes strut on their black legs across an ice floe, while nearby a whiskered bearded seal peers inquisitively at the photographers. In this great fjord, a vast glacier growls then sends ice tumbling down to the sea. The giant glacier once stretched miles further into the fjord, but with global water it is receding dramatically.
Ice on the beach at the Julibreen
Nikon D4, Lens: 24-70mm f/2.8G, Focal Length: 24mm, Aperture: f/20, Shutter Speed: 1/100s, Exposure Comp.: -0.3EV
On our last day, I ponder the impact of global warming on this Arctic environment that hosts not only the polar bears but so many marine and land mammals, as well as seabirds and waterfowl. We have seen healthy bears, fox, reindeer, but they belie the dangerous changes underway. It is hard to imagine that polar bears could adapt—what about the other wildlife? Heidi mentions that if at least a small population of bears could survive, maybe they could adapt over time—after all, species have adjusted in the past. Our ship sales south for Longyearbyen, leaving behind the bears, the seals, and the Arctic.
Photographing Atlantic puffins from the zodiac
Nikon D4, Lens: VR 70-200mm f/2.8G, Focal Length: 180mm, ISO 100, Aperture: f/9, Shutter Speed: 1/500s, Exposure Comp.: -0.7EV
Atlantic puffins nesting in a rocky cliff
Nikon D4, Lens: VR 200-400mm f/4G, Focal Length: 400mm, ISO 200, Aperture: f/6.3, Shutter Speed: 1/640s, Exposure Comp.: -0.7EV
Looking back, I conclude that while Africa may be the darling destination of safari lovers, and Antarctica the artist’s muse—I have fallen in love with the Arctic. I have fallen for its austerity, its isolation, its loneliness. I have fallen for its seals, bears and guillemots, its icy shores, and its fjords, often wrapped in a dense fog.
Panorama photo (54×10 inches) of the Fjortende Julibreen, the 14th of July Glacier, which is located at northwestern Spitsbergen in the Krossfjord, Svalbard, Norway.