Beautiful Gloominess

On the second day of my Svalbard expedition, the ship sailed around the southern end of Spitsbergen Island and we had an opportunity for an excursion ashore for a hike. This also means that no polar bears were spotted or else they would never have let us go on shore. But I didn’t mind because I really wanted to get ashore for some hiking and landscape photography. I had little experience hiking and shooting in this environment and was eager to give it a try.

In the map below you can see that Spitsbergen is the largest island of the archipelago. The southern tip of this island is taken up by South Spitsbergen National Park, and our excursion was along the southeastern coast below the ‘d’ in “Heer Land” at a point called Boltodden (see the map below). After the morning excursion we sailed up the coast a bit and saw some glaciers.

This was our first landing and we all slid out of the boats to wait around the shore until the party was organized. There would be three groups: one to mill around the sea shore, another group for a hike around a large pond, and a third group for a more aggressive hike up a hill. I chose the middle group as there would be more time to stop and shoot photos around the pond and I wasn’t sure how the hiking would go with muck boots and life jackets. Spaced around the area were expedition team members armed with flare guns and rifles on the lookout for polar bears. The idea was that if a bear approached, they would try to scare it away with flares and if that didn’t work and the bear got too close, they would shoot and kill it. Nobody wanted a bear to be killed, so they were careful in scouting landings. The image below shows a zodiac full of adventurous tourists landing on the seaweed at Boltodden.

As I stood on shore waiting, I noted how layered the sky appeared to be. Taking a picture of just the sky wasn’t so interesting, so I put the ship in it too. You can make out the kayaks in the water behind the ship awaiting the kayakers who were the last to leave I guess. I like the gloomy mood of this and the rest of the images I got on this day.

This particular landing site featured two old shacks and the ruins of a third. I don’t know how long the shacks had been there or what they were used for but they were considered protected cultural artifacts so we were to avoid bothering them. I worked on a way to get the old shack with the glacier across the water in the background. I tried to maneuver myself such that the cabin didn’t break the line of the glacier. Not sure what would drive a person to hang out in a little shack on the isolated tundra, but someone put it there.

Next is my favorite photo of the day and I had to work for it. I was shooting around dozens of people and trying to make the landscape appear as isolated and unwelcoming as possible. I was also trying to capture the curve of the water leading toward the pond with the cliffs in the background. Imagine about 100 people in blue jackets with orange life vests milling around just out of shot to the left and right of the photo below.

It was a real challenge editing the yellow and greens in these photos. The tundra is actually covered by yellow-green moss and lichens and it is very overwhelming against the gray sky in the unedited photos. I put a lot of effort into working these colors when editing so that they were there, but not terribly distracting to look like the scene as I saw and interpreted it.

After we circled around the pond, some low clouds came in to shroud the mountains while the wind died down and the pond became very mirror-like. I saw this just as everyone was loading back into the zodiacs for a return to the ship so I and a few others went over to try to photograph this scene. Without being able to spend a lot of time studying the scene, I took many quick photos of the reflections and this was my favorite. I cropped it as a bit of a pano as the green along the bottom was too much.

Later in the day we went up the coast to see some glaciers. I was out on the top deck viewing the scene and for a few minutes was blessed with some sunlight. As there wasn’t any foreground to base the scene around, I did a pano of the sunny clouds, mountains, and glaciers in the distance. The sun dictated where the center of the composition was.

Overall the gloomy skies and arctic landscape were fun to photograph and a welcome change from the mostly blue skies and semi-arid landscape where I live. I got in the habit of not leaving my cabin without my camera as there was often plenty to see from the decks of the ship. The weather was quite mild, hovering around 41F/5C around the clock and I didn’t really need most of the winter clothing that I brought along.

Were you hoping to see polar bears? We were, but they didn’t seem to be as common in this part of Svalbard. Fortunately, the ship was moving all around Svalbard so our chances would improve.

29 thoughts on “Beautiful Gloominess”

  1. Gloomy pictures have their own beauty, especially when water is in the photo.
    I see why the landscape photo with the shack was your favorite photo of the day! It was worth all the work you put into it. That one and the one with the sun in the clouds are my favorites. Well done!
    I am guessing that the next set of photos will have some polar bears in them. I have a fifty-fifty chance of being right. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. My favorite was actually the one after the shack photo but I may have worded that wrong. I am not sure if I have any polar bear photos to post. I will have to check.

      I did enjoy the gloominess for a while. And it was 24 hours a day, no night.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. You worded it right. I just read it wrong. It is still my favorite photo. I think I may know who lives in the shack.

        It would feel strange to have no night. Why go to bed when it’s not dark. LOL!

        Look hard for those polar bears. I am betting that you can find them.

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Beautiful photos, in all their Arctic gloominess. I’m very impressed with how you captured the reflection of the mountain in the pond. I also like the other photo a lot, with the crowds of people out of frame to the left and right. Trying to get those kinds of shots requires quick action, but your framing and composition was spot on.

    All of these scenes bring back memories of Iceland, to me. And so, they conjure up mixed emotions. I loved the scenery, but it was always so frickin’ cold. 41°F is just a slight bit warmer than a refrigerator. I’d hardly call that mild.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I was ready to be a lot colder. It was very hard to get a good forecast for this area. I packed some winter clothes that I ended up never wearing. We did end up with a reasonably cold day or two, but none of the very cold days that I saw on various forecasts.

      Liked by 1 person

            6. I don’t know. Between her sticky, sugary caramel lattes and her sickly sweet peppermint personality, Jason would have stayed too busy trying to mop up all the messes from heaving on the floor.

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