Today was the last day of our expedition: within two weeks we have sailed all the way from the glaciers and sea ice of Svalbard to the warm waters of Copenhagen, crossing from 78°N to 55°N. We started our expedition with freezing temperatures and polar bears and we ended our trip with an amazing dinner outdoors on the back deck.
Today was all about enjoying the navigation and learning more about photography thanks to three fantastic lectures from our staff. First on was “Land Without Sun”. Wildlife photographer Morten Hilmer told us about his two-month photo expedition in Northeast Greenland where he stayed throughout the entire dark season to capture the amazing Arctic wildlife. It was fascinating to see how these animals manage to survive in some of the most extreme conditions on this planet and to see them captured by beautiful photography.
After an amazing lunch prepared by our galley team it is the time for “Chasing the Moods”. Morten Hilmer took the audience through some of his most spectacular and isolated expeditions to the Arctic, including the most remote parts of Norway and Greenland. Armed with snowshoes and sleds Morten showed us how he ventured into Dovrefjellet National Park to photograph musk oxen in their natural environment. He described how he waited for the storm to arrive so that he could shoot these animals in white-out conditions with their fur covered snow and the air dense with flakes. Morten also shared some “behind the scenes” videos and inspired us to get out in nature more often and to turn bad weather conditions into favorable photographic moments.
After tea in the lounge it was time for our amazing National Geographic photographer Susan Seubert’s presentation, “Photo Wrap-up”. A huge part of photography is to be able to organize our pictures so that we can always easily access them, and Susan showed us all of her tricks to make that happen. Also she provided us with great tips on picture editing and not least how to save hours of work just by changing some presetting at import.
