Exploring Svalbard: A location for photographers like nowhere else

There are locations on Earth that you simply go to, and others that slowly, quietly enter you and appear to discover a everlasting dwelling. Svalbard has been very a lot a type of locations for me.

All my life I’ve been drawn to wild locations. Not only for what they appear to be, however for what they do to you if you spend high quality time there. Yet nothing fairly ready me for the way in which the immense and distant Svalbard Archipelago would sink into me.

Even now, many months after my newest journey, it returns in quiet moments: the standard of sunshine, the huge silence, and the highly effective sense of place.

The Svalbard Archipelago lies deep throughout the Arctic Circle, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. Its Nordic identify roughly interprets to “The Cold Edge”, and it earns that title truthfully.

This is a spot of sharply sculpted mountains, deeply incised fjords, huge glaciers, and sea ice that’s by no means nonetheless, drifting, cracking, respiratory with the rhythm of the ocean.

Despite many early makes an attempt, it wasn’t found till comparatively late in fashionable historical past. Locked in sea ice for a lot of the 12 months, it was merely inaccessible to most early exploration. As a consequence, in contrast to virtually all over the place else on Earth, Svalbard by no means established an Indigenous inhabitants.

Much of its wilderness subsequently stays remarkably intact. Humans have made their presence recognized by way of centuries of exploration, mining, whaling, and trapping, nevertheless it feels much less like a panorama formed by people and extra like one which merely tolerates our presence, quickly. 

Silence that speaks

What struck me first is the character of the silence that envelops you. Not as a lot the absence of sound, however a type of expansive, encircling quiet that presses gently, but firmly, in opposition to your senses.

At instances it’s damaged by the deep crack of shifting sea ice, the low thunder of a glacier calving, or the sigh of an iceberg rolling within the water.

Occasionally the sound of a whale’s exhale drifts throughout a fjord, or Arctic terns sew the sky with their calls, however between these moments lies immense stillness.

That silence creates area: to really feel small, to watch rigorously, and to let the panorama work on you with out distraction. It is in these moments that Svalbard turns into much less a vacation spot to seize, and extra a spot to construct an enduring relationship with.

A Living Geological Archive

Geologically, Svalbard is astonishing. The mountains right here aren’t mushy or forgiving; they’re sharp, angular, and brutally sincere. The most important island of Spitsbergen was named by Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz in 1596, that means “pointed mountains.” 

Layers of sedimentary rock reveal lots of of thousands and thousands of years of Earth’s historical past, typically laid naked by retreating ice.

Glaciers dominate the panorama — virtually 60 p.c of the archipelago is roofed by them. Vast rivers of ice stream slowly however relentlessly towards the ocean, carving the rocky underlayers beneath.

Some terminate in towering vertical faces; others spill into fjords in fractured tongues. Their blues vary from milky turquoise to deep cobalt, relying on mild, density, and age.

For photographers, the ice is endlessly compelling. No two varieties are the identical, and nothing holds nonetheless for lengthy. Icebergs rotate, fracture, and dissolve. Sea ice shifts in a single day, typically by the minute. Even acquainted anchor factors subtly change from hour to hour.

From a panorama photographer’s perspective, it’s an utter paradise. The geological dynamism, immense bodily constructions, and textural richness provide boundless scope for each the grand and the intimate. Yet it’s the accessibility to wildlife alongside this that actually elevates the area photographically.

Wildlife on the Edge

Svalbard is likely one of the premier locations on Earth to witness Arctic wildlife and encounters right here really feel each intimate and profoundly humbling.

Polar bears are, after all, essentially the most iconic presence. Seeing one within the wild, particularly on sea ice, transferring with such fluid confidence regardless of its dimension, is heard to explain. They aren’t aggressive in the way in which common tradition typically suggests, however they’re unquestionably highly effective, clever, and extremely expert hunters.

Watching a bear navigate strain ridges or examine a respiratory gap is to witness predation refined to close perfection.

Svalbard reindeer are sometimes discovered grazing quietly on tundra slopes, typically even wandering by way of the streets of Longyearbyen, the world’s northernmost completely inhabited city, itself.

Arctic foxes dart alongside rocky shorelines with boundless curiosity, whereas walruses haul out in wrinkled, sprawling gatherings on low sandbanks, their intimidating bulk  and tusks contrasting with their want for fixed bodily contact with one another.

Above all of it, birdlife is fixed: kittiwakes, guillemots, puffins, skuas, and Arctic terns filling cliffs and skies with continuous movement. For photographers, the proximity is extraordinary, and encounters really feel unforced, pure and respectful when approached accurately. 

The Gift of Endless Light

One of Svalbard’s most exceptional options is the midnight solar. For virtually 4 months in summer time, the solar by no means units. Time softens and begins to lose its acquainted construction. There isn’t any golden hour adopted by darkness; as a substitute, mild cycles gently however always by way of delicate moods, angles, and textures.

Creatively, that is remarkably liberating. There isn’t any strain to hurry, no frantic checking of sundown instances. If the sunshine isn’t proper, you simply wait. Photography turns into fluid somewhat than scheduled, permitting deeper immersion in each place and course of — and your imagery inevitably displays that.

Flying within the Arctic

On my first journey, I used to be lucky to undertake drone filming. With all of the wanted permits, licences, and with shut coordination with the captain and expedition chief, it turned a number of the most extraordinary flying I’ve ever skilled.

Offering the drone to scout routes by way of the ice pack proved unexpectedly beneficial for expedition planning as properly. Many flights occurred whereas the ship slept.

On one event, anchored in pack ice in a single day, I used to be given permission to fly all through the evening. With 24 hours of daylight on provide, sleep turned a distant thought — nevertheless it was a possibility I wasn’t keen to waste.

From above, Svalbard reveals itself otherwise. The sheer scale of the peaks and the immense breadth of glacial landscapes unfolding from the fjords is absolutely unveiled.

Fractured ice mosaics, braided meltwater channels, and glacial scars etched into mountainsides provide limitless textural and inventive visible materials. With future zoning modifications more likely to limit such entry, the expertise felt particularly privileged.

I’ve created a cinematic illustration of that extraordinary alternative right here:

The Long Echo

Some locations name you again quietly, lengthy after you’ve left. Svalbard is one in every of them, and for me, familiarity doesn’t boring its influence. With every return, the urge to gather pictures softens right into a need to easily reply to moments as they come up, with full presence and a focus.

Svalbard doesn’t ask for that spotlight. It doesn’t carry out. It merely exists: huge, affected person, and detached as to whether we’re watching or not. And but, in case you give it time, it offers again a lot and provides an more and more uncommon commodity: perspective.

In a world that strikes ever quicker, Svalbard stands quietly on the edge, asking nothing — but providing a lot, if we’re keen to decelerate and hear. I will probably be answering its name once more very quickly.

About the writer

Based within the lovely, wild island of Tasmania Paul Hoelen is a full-time skilled photographer working throughout portrait, journey, documentary and industrial fields. He is greatest recognized nonetheless for his panorama imagery, notably from an aerial perspective. With a long time of expertise, he has been awarded Grand Master of Photography (NZIPP) and named Tasmanian Professional Landscape Photographer of the Year seven instances. 

You can see extra of his work here.