Ice, Ice, and More Ice

On my Svalbard expedition, we did multiple excursions to see one of the main features of the landscape: ice. Ice in the form of icebergs and glaciers. And after the morning of being harassed by birds, we loaded up into the zodiacs and headed for the ice to look around. I don’t get to shoot ice very often where I live, so this was a unique experience for me. I had one camera hanging around my neck with a wide angle lens and another camera in my hand with a long lens. I wasn’t sure what I’d do.

One iceberg that I’m sure everyone on the ship saw from a long way off was a big iceberg that looked like someone had scraped it with a giant fork. And this was the first destination of the zodiac once we left the ship.

I think that most people had the same idea with this particular iceberg. Get close and shoot abstract details. So, the zodiac drivers basically took us in a loop around the ruffled iceberg to give us different views. The image below was taken with a long lens and is my best close-up of this particular piece of ice. It’s a nice layer of patterns that leaves the viewer to imagine where it came from.

Close up texture of an iceberg

We cruised along in front of the large glacier and I struggled with what to shoot. Close-ups didn’t really suggest scale and the wide shots seemed messy to me. Some of the kayakers paddled by and I decided that they might provide a sense of scale for a somewhat close up view of the scene. This is a long shot and the kayakers are not as close to the glacier as it would appear.

Kayaks in front of a glacier

If you asked me before the trip, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to kayak in a place like this. But in hindsight, it looked like the kayakers had a good time. The water was generally calm and they had their own little boat to paddle around in. Unfortunately, you had to be all-in on the kayaking for the entire expedition and couldn’t just show up for kayaking one day. So, it was all zodiacking for me.

At the point of the glacier, the ice looked about ready to collapse at any moment. This did concern me a bit as we were only in these little boats and occasionally a smaller piece would fall into the water. But, I figured the people in orange jackets generally knew what they were doing and didn’t let it bother me too much. Imagine the wave that would have been created had the ice in the image below collapsed into the sea.

The edge of a glacier about to crumble into the sea

As we moved away from the main glacier, I got better wide angle shots. The image below resonated with me because of the symmetry I suppose. You can see how calm the water is up in this fjord by the nice reflection.

Glacier at Frazerbreen Svalbard

We approached another iceberg out in the fjord and I figured it was time for the ultra wide. I wanted to try hanging over the side of the zodiac with the camera just off the surface of the water and shooting wide to give it exaggerated proportions. Not sure if that worked out according to plan, but I rather like the image below shot at 24mm focal length. The blue stands out against the general grayness of the image and there is a sense of isolation.

I promise no ice for the next post, but there is more ice coming in the future.

22 thoughts on “Ice, Ice, and More Ice”

  1. So, the Ice Man Cometh, eh? Show all the ice shots you want, I think they’re beautiful.

    I love the blue in the ice. Some glaciers have a dirty, brown look, from all the debris they’ve eroded away, but the glacier you shot is very blue. It looks pretty huge, too.

    Kayaking looks like fun, but I’d hate to be in one that overturns, in those frigid waters.

    And yeah, I’d be worried about giant waves from a massive calving, too.

    Liked by 2 people

  2. Normally I wouldn’t think ice was anything special, but your photos prove different. Love the blue color and all of your pics were great, but especially the last two. True, natural beauty! Will be glad to see more photos of ice.

    I would have chosen the zodiac as well over the kayaks. Would have felt a little safer if one of those glaciers started to fall.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Thanks. I considered not even posting these photos, but I really like the last two images. It was fun shooting all the ice, but I really didn’t know what to do most of the time and the boat was almost always moving, which didn’t give you a lot of time to think.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Jason, these photos are stunning! The “zodiaking” feeling—yes, I understand. I would love to kayak near them. It’s sensational to see them, I bet. A feeling of “smallness” and awe would be expected! I hope to see one!

    On another note–have you seen Free Solo with Alex Hannold? Recently I watched Arctic Ascent. He ascended an unclimbed cliff face in Greenland and a glaciologist (how cool!) was part of the team.

    Norway is definitely on my bucket list. And your amazing captures make me think I’m there!

    Like

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