On August 24, 2013 I boarded the M/S Quest for a ten day photography expedition in the Svalbard Archipelago and north to the polar ice cap. During our ten days at sea we made frequent excursions on Zodiac boats, sometimes going ashore and sometimes taking pictures from the Zodiacs. We made two successful trips north to the ice pack, which covers the North Pole, searching for polar bears; our second trip took us as far north as the 82° 34’ latitude, or 450 miles from the North Pole.

This was by any measure a very successful expedition. Many expeditions are lucky if they can get close enough to take pictures of even a single polar bear, and some never even catch sight of a polar bear. On our expedition we sighted nine polar bears and seven of them were close enough to get very good photographs. In addition to polar bears we had good opportunities to photograph walrus, birds, icescapes, and landscapes.

I found the Arctic with its rugged mountains, barren landscape, soft and ever present light of the sun, ice bergs, and the wondrous pancake ice in the ice pack to be an unique experience. You have two ways you can join me on a virtual journey to the North Pole. You can:

Watch a short slideshow of my journey, including a short movie clip of the collapse of a large section of the wall of a glacier; and/or you can view the pictures from this trip in my Svalbard album. Whichever choice you make, I trust you will enjoy sharing my trip to the top of the world.

Svalbard Slide Show

Svalbard Photo Album