Twenty kilograms hand bag

When I brought an Ortlieb Rack Pack 89 (XL) to Antartica earlier this month, I had the idea that it would be used to bring the f-stop Satori EXP backpack safely ashore in the rubber boats. But as our landings never included much walking I decided to leave the backpack on the ship and only take the Monster sized Internal Camera Unit. The rack pack is VERY roomy (89 litres) and had plenty of room for the camera gear in addition to Lastolite soft box and reflector, a big Gitzo Tripod with the Acratech GP ballhead, warm mittens, down anorak water bottle etc. The roll closure is great and I much prefer it to any type of zipper as a roll closure is indestructible. The shoulder strap is nice and wide with a padded shoulder piece but the bag really needs to be fully rolled up and secured with the fasteners at the ends for the shoulder strap to be used. That is a disadvantage as it is nice to walk with the bag open for fast access to the gear. I therefore mostly ended up carrying the bag by its handles. This was a bit tiring as the bag often weighed about 20 kilograms. It was nice to be able to put it down anywhere not considering wet snow, penguin shit or pee, and it made for a great giant bean bag giving relatively good support for those low angled shots of penguins. I ended up using the tripod very little and would consider not bringing one on another trip or exchanging it for a ground pod or a skimmer. I have discarded some images due to camera movement that could have been prevented by use of more stable support. Speaking of support, I enjoyed using the Novoflex Pistock-C modified with an Arca Swiss type Sunway quick release clamp for handheld operation with the 200-400/4 lens. I am confident it helped me on the keeper ratio. 

Photo packing list for a trip to Antarctica

For an upcoming trip to the Antarctic peninsula, I plan to take:

Cameras:
Nikon D4 (main)
Nikon D700 incl MB-D10 (backup)

Lenses and converters:
AF-S Nikkor 14-24/2.8
AF-S Nikkor 85/1.4 or AF-S or Micro-Nikkor 105/2.8 (but probably both)
AF-S Nikkor 70-200/2.8
AF-S Nikkor 200-400/4
AF-S Nikkor TC-14EIII
AF-S Nikkor TC-20EIII

Lens accessories:
Nikon drop-in polarisation filter for 200-400/4

Hoya polarisation filter (77mm)
Hoya 8 stop neutral density filter (77mm)

Flash and flash gear:
1 SB-900
1 SC-29 TTL cable

1 home made flash extender - Better Beamer style but better ; )

1 Lastolite EzyBox TTL

Support:
1 Gitzo GT3541XLS tripod
1 Acratech GP ballhead
1 Novoflex Pistock-C shoulder pod with Sunway DDC60i QR (for handheld work from ship or rubber boat)

1 Kirk nodal rail for panoramas

Bags:

1 F-stop Satori EXP photo backpack with Monster insert

1 rain cover for the backpack 

3 Lowepro lens cases - to carry 2 of the smaller lenses and 1 teleconverter in the belt of the backpack

1 Ortlieb Rackpack XL 89liter (drybag to transport the backpack to shore in rubber boats)

Others:
1 Lastolite trigrip 8-in-1 small difuser/reflector
1 Thinktank Hydrophobia 300-600 raincover
CF Lexar and Sandisk memory cards (96GBin total)
2*4 rechargeable camera batteries

12 rechargeable eneloop AA batteries

2 Nikon camera battery chargers

1 Ansmann AA and AAA battery charger

Sony PCM-M10 audio recorder - for recordings of notes, ambient sound and perhaps a little reportage
Sensor swab swabs and liquid

Lexar USB card reader

Dust blower and microfleece lens lens cloths

Hama single use lens tissues

1 laptop

2 external hard disks each 500 GB (one for storage one for backup)

I have not used the Satori EXP backpack very much during summer in Greenland, but it should come handy for this upcoming trip. I surely like the concept of having the opening facing towards the carriers back keeping this side free up mud and bird guano when you put the bag down on the ground. Most of the above will fit except either the 85mm or 105mm. The bag is really on the small side although it will weigh approximately 20 kg fully loaded. I plan to bring the Lowepro lens cases to minimize the times I have to actually take off the backpack while on shore. I have previously used a similar system on Galapagos Island with great success. I will probably have both cameras in use with the 200-400 on the D4 and 70-200 or 14-24 on the D700 most of the time. I may decide to keep the D700 totally as a backup as the D4 is arguably better and they are sufficiently different in handling to cause some irritation or at least confusion. The lens cases I take are relatively large and will easily take any of the lenses besides the 200-400. This way the one or two "smaller" lenses not in use can always sit in these. 

I do have the Wemberley Sidekick but have never used it much and will  also not bring it this time. The Acratech GP head makes for a very good gimbal ball head and with no modification needed it can be used as a normal ball head with the smaller lenses. It can also quickly be turned into a panoramic head for simple 360° one row panoramas. I used to have L plates mounted either on the "naked" D700 or the MB-D10, but I never got one for the D4 and I have not really missed it. I have a little Wimberley P-5 Camera Body Plate more or less permanently mounted though. To keep everything Arca Swiss style, I also have a low profile Wimberley replacement foot on the 200-400 and one from Kirk on the 70-200. 

I am still undecided on whether to bring the 105mm macro lens. The focal length is duplicated in the 70-200 but so is the 85mm! Both 85 and 105 are specialty lenses. I recently got the 85 for extreme shallow depth of field images of groups of animals but with the sense of the place that longer lenses will not give the same way. It is rare to see advice on bringing a macro lens to Antarctica but I think it would be nice to document some of the mosses and lichens with it. The 85 has a rather poor (long) minimum focus distance. I will probably end up bringing both. Some say a 2x extender is a waste of time and that upsized shots from a 1.4x extender gives just as good (or bad) results. Others say that the TC-20EIII is actually not that bad on the 200-400. It does slow down AF to the almost non usable, that is for certain. I will consider leaving the TC-20 at home, but it will not save much on the weight budget!

Galapagos slideshow @ NFD - November 8th

I will be giving a slide show on the natural history of and nature photography on the Galapagos Islands at NFD (NaturFotografer i Danmark = an association of nature photographers in Denmark) in Brønshøj on November 8th.

The audience is taken to this magnificent group of islands 1000 km from the coast of South America.
The Galapagos was probably one of the mayor inspirations which led the young Charles Darwin to later formulate his theory on biological evolution.

Today the island group offers unique opportunities to witness evolution and experience wild unspoilt nature and naïve and photogenic animals. The island group is visited by many thousands of tourists every year but strict rules ensure that the impact on the environment is kept to a minimum.

Great to be back in Zackenberg

After a long sledge trip to the airport Nerlerit Inaat where we waited in Kap Hope under way for the snow to stop and a gorgeous evening in Hurry Inlet with huge amounts of seals enjoying the sun I finally arrived on the night to Tuesday. My colleagues were supposed to arrive from Iceland and pick me up the next day but due to an ambulance flight further north the plane was postponed till Wednesday. When it came we were first preparing to stay overnight due to fog at Zackenberg but suddenly it was decided that the plane should return and that it was probably better that we joined. The next couple of days the weather did not improve so we spent the time enjoying the open air hot swimming pool and the good food in Akureyri, Iceland and some even went sight seeing. Personally, I was trying to rest remyself after a strenuous holiday. Saturday we finally made it and Charlotte, Jørgen and Martin could start their journey home.
It has only been a few days, but much has already happened. Yesterday the snow on the heath got really wet and the melting water started to drain off seriously today - just as I could start the greenness measurement transects - meaning that I will have to follow straight lines on skis - also if they go through knee high ice water with slush ice and a crusty ice surface! I was actually supposed to have done it yesterday but there was a technical problem that I did not manage to solve until late last night. Instead I took advantage of the low water level in the river and went to the other side to check a few fox dens and the ice cover on a few lakes. I enjoyed my lunch at the old trapping station and found a can of beer in the snow - left over from the Sirius dog sledge patrol spring home coming BBQ last week. At one of the fox dens I found the remains of a gyr falcon. At the station we have had daily visits by an adult arctic fox, in the state of changing from winter to summer coat. It looks quite funny as it only has its thick and fluffy fur on the rear part and the tail. Also, the station has been frequented by a very relaxed arctic hare. Today I slowly crawled in to about 3 m to photograph it. Later it was scared by the mobbing calls of a few long-tailed skuas chasing the fox. The hare rose to stand on its hind legs - to better view the danger - then it jumped in my direction still on the hind legs only to pass me at a few meters. It sure feels great to be back.
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Shy seals and naïve little auks

Traveling by dog sledge can be very comfortable. With some practice you can stand while driving (like when putting on camouflage for seal hunting). It may look slow but when you get off to help the dogs you realize how fast they are really going and you get your pulse up from keeping pace (off course you take some of their burden - but that is the whole point). Yesterday I came back from a sledge trip to Kap Höegh a place where little auks gather in massive numbers to breed. On the way there we had some great weather while going over a glacier. The route used to go along the coast but in recent years the ice edge has advanced and the open water now goes all the way to land by Kap Tobin and north making sledging difficult if not impossible. After going down the glacier, we encountered seals enjoying the sun on the sea ice. Marius was eager to hunt the first one but I insisted to try for a photos using the shooting sledge. It did not work quite as anticipated. In the deep snow the seals make a kind of a hollow - making them partly invisible from the low angle of the sledge. Fully dressed in white, I did get a few shoots but the distance was bigger than I had hoped for before the seal slipped into its hole. I will try later in the National Park where the seals may be less wary if the ice conditions allows. The next seal was shot by Marius. We had not thought of making space for it on the sledge so I ended up sitting right on top of it. It was later consumed by the dogs while we had minced musk ox with rice.

At Kap Höegh local hunters told us that the little auks had not seriously arrived yet, but during our first night they certainly did. I was woken up by gun shot on the mountain and the thousands of birds made a lot of noise themselves - especially when shot at or in other ways disturbed by gulls, ravens or people. I went up the mountain three times during our full day there - all the time hoping for improvements in the weather which was still rather foggy - and took a lot of photos. After doing a lot of tele stuff, I wanted a close perspective using a wide angle. This would have to be an unmanned setup but since I did not bring a long remote cord or a radio trigger, I used the interval timer. At first the birds where somewhat skeptical of the big black camera, so at the second setup I camouflaged it with my khaki cap and left for exploring the top of the mountain. This worked so well that I had a hard time finding the camera and tripod again! Image wise I did not get quite what I imagined - more time needed as always. A german nature film maker Uwe Anders and his assistant Mathias will spend 2 weeks there - I wish I could do the same. Oh well I cannot complain, I am shortly going for roughly 4 months in the National Park, and I am confident there will be many great photo opportunities besides the great work with the monitoring. It is just about using "f/8 and be there"!

Out of town.. and in again

I got hold of a rifle and a pulka and went to Kap Tobin by skis. Here I rented a small house. I was hoping to explore the polynia (permanently open water) by boat and talked to the hunter Kristian Josefsen about it. He said come back next morning. At that time the polynia was blocked a bit by drifting ice due to eastern winds. Later it started snowing and visibility went down considerably. Today I went into town to get my mobile phone charged and to check email. Looks like the good weather is coming tomorrow!

Went to see the the eruption before finally arriving in Greenland

Thursday night I went and saw the eruption and the ash cloud. We basically drove into the cloud on the ring road and later watched the ash column and magma splashes and lightning in addition. As we stood there the cloud turned and the ash started to drizzle on us.


Friday there was no flight to Greenland either due to the ash cloud so I rented a car and drove out to Reykjanes where Gunnar and Jeroen were waiting for the Sanderlings (bird species) to arrive. We had time for a quick sightseeing before doing a bird count on the beaches. I had brought ingredients for a BBQ and we talked a lot of field work and Zackenberg in particular (where both Gunnar and Jeroen have been too - but not Gunnar's girl friend nor Bob, Jeroen's assistant from the Netherlands).

Saturday morning, I was surprised to see a scheduled flight to my destination in Northeast Greenland, Nerlerit Inaat at 9:45 as we were told to get information at 9:00. The night before it looked quite unlikely that we would be able to go at all, but conditions change fast and they seemed to have scheduled an extra flight early. We all left for the airport and started to check in only to get informed that our flight was "delayed" till 11:45 (normal scheduled departure). Oh well! After I did a bit of complaining, everyone got drinks and snacks in the cafeteria. There was rumuors of bad weather approaching the Greenlandic coast so we were somewhat worried that we might get cancelled again. That did not happen though and after a short stop in Nerleriit Inaat we were transferred by helicopter to Ittorqqortoormiit. Here I shared one of the guest housed with Rosanne from the Netherlands and her husband Eddie from Belgium in addition to Nua and Vittus from Tassilaq, East Greenland. Nua and Vittus are from the municipality's technical dept. on business. They were going to see the hot springs at the village of Kap Tobin by means of snow scooter and asked whether I would like to join them. So I did and we got a bonus trip to Kap Hope on the other side of town. Where we had a cup of coffee at one of the local hunters.
Sunday it has been snowing the whole day but it was rather warm. In the morning I went to Church and said hello to Ruth the Organ player. I met her in West Greenland in 2006 just before she came to settle here in town. After that I went to have coffee with Dorthe (one of the passengers arriving yesterday) and her husband Steen and the medical doctors house. Monday I tried to get hold of Martin to talk about arranging a dog sledge trip but I did not manage. Instead I met Uwe a german nature videographer doing a documentary on Greenland and his logistician Kim from Denmark. I had a long chat with Uwe about the filming conditions here. Also, I moved to Hannes house. She is working at the kindergarten but is out of town at the moment. I met her in Reykjavik airport Wednesday while she was going to Nuuk and I was still trying to go North and she said that I could borrow her house. It will only be for a few days as she is expected to come back on Wednesday. Also, will probably try to rent a house in Kap Tobin closer to the open water.

Still in Iceland...

Yesterday it looked like I was going to Greenland. But due to technical problem, pasengers for Nerlerit Inaat were first taken off the plane with a message of a later special plane. Shortly after, this plane was cancelled due to weather conditions in Greenland and we were taken to hotel Cab In. With clouds hanging low it was not exactly vulcano watching weather so I called Bjarki Friis. I met him in Zackenberg three years ago while he was doing service in the Sirius Patrol. I then joined his regular wednesday schedule and went to the thermal pool, followed by indoor hockey and and a barbercue party with his girl friend Anna and people from their voluntary rescue team. Cosy way to spend an evening in Iceland!

So far so good

I managed to get to Reykjavik today but the prospects of getting to Nerleriit Inaat, Constable Point tomorrow did not look too good earlier today. Actually they were so bad that Carsten and Eskild decided not to risk either not getting to Greenland or getting stuck in Iceland because of the ash cloud from Eyjafjallajøkull the vulcano. Now the prognosis does look rather good, actually!

Anyhow, if I do not go on north tomorrow, I will go have a look at that vulcano.

Eyjafjallajøkull

I am keeping a close eye on the ash cloud from Eyjafjallajøkull @ the Met Office Volcanic Ash Advisory in additon to arrivals and departures in the airports of Keflavik and Rejkjavik... in the hope that we will get to Northeast Greenland via Iceland on schedule.

Ittorqqortoormiit - Scoresbysund

The field season in Zackenberg for me starts June 1st but this year I will go to Greenland some time before that to take some holiday in and around Ittorqqortoormiit (also known as Scoresbysund) - the northernmost town in Eastgreenland. I have been close every time going to or from Zackenberg the last three years since the small airport of Nerlerit Inaat (Constable Point) is used as a hub. I will go with my colleague Carsten Egevang and his friend Eskild Lund Sørensen. We will be doing dog sledging with Nanu Travel which is run by my old high school class mate Martin Munck and I am really looking forward to it. After the other guys go back, I still have a few weeks to relax, go skiing and visit friends in town.