Svalbard

Darthchaffinch

Darthchaffinch

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Spent 5 days in this amazing place, and luckily have a (photographer) friend living and working there so stayed with him and his girlfriend (who also luckily works for the main tourist company). I flew fairly cheaply from Oslo to Longyearbyen with Norwegian Air (I live in Sweden a few hours drive from Oslo).
All but one day we drove to the edges of Longyearbyn and either took shots there or walked for several hours. It wasn't that cold as had half decent Swedish winter clothing, but I do wish I'd taken decent welly-type boots instead of winter hiking boots (we jumped across a lot of freezing streams and rivers!). I was very glad I took my full-blown tripod but it did make for hard walking with that, all 3 lenses and camera plus a rifle. You're not allowed out of the town unarmed and the stories my friend relayed really did hammer home why...even a quick walk up a hill on the edge of town can lead to a problem.

Critique very welcome, especially as a lot of shots look too noisy. (Not the only problems with them IMO)

Out and about:

1
Svalbard

2
Svalbard

3
Svalbard

4 Arctic fox
Arctic fox

5
20150824-_DSC3060

6 Reindeer in the sun
[url=https://flic.kr/p/y71smF]20150825-_DSC3467 [/URL]

7 Longyearbyen
Longyearbyen

8
20150827-_DSC4102


There're more shots on my Flickr if interested, thanks for looking and happy to answer any questions!
 
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Great looking photos of a lonely looking landscape.
Looks so isolated, wild and peaceful at the same time.
 
One of the nicest (longer) sets on here for a while.
Not that keen on no 5, but you can't have everything :)

Not bad for a D90!
I see you used ISO 640 for the first one. Did you need to stop down to f11 with the lens you used (11-16)?
Just curious :)
 
kendo1 said:
One of the nicest (longer) sets on here for a while.
Not that keen on no 5, but you can't have everything :)

Not bad for a D90!
I see you used ISO 640 for the first one. Did you need to stop down to f11 with the lens you used (11-16)?
Just curious :)
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Thanks I really want to upgrade...!
I had real trouble getting the exposure right with the bright sky and the very dark hill on left, we'd been at the same spot for 3 hours by then and I was camera-blind... Think I used F11 to get the whole scene sharp (yes was a Tokina 11-16)
No 5 I only added to show the landscape a bit more.
 
Boat trip to Pyramiden, an old Russian coal mining settlement abandoned during the collapse of the soviet union. It was a long but great trip (almost ruined by dropping my D90 with zoom lens).

1 Puffin (these were very hard to photo!!!
Puffin

2
20150826-_DSC3566

3
20150826-_DSC3570

4
20150826-_DSC3582

5 BBQ on the boat
Lunch

6 Pyramiden
Pyramiden

7 This was the first time in many years the guide has seen a bear here.
20150826-_DSC3788

8
20150826-_DSC3792

See my Bear thread for couple more pics: https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/polar-bear.600904/
 
Hi

It was that you mentioned noise (not noticeable on my laptop) and I would have thought f8 might have been enough with that lens, and use ISO 480 or so.

You'll just have to go back...
 
kendo1 said:
Hi

It was that you mentioned noise (not noticeable on my laptop) and I would have thought f8 might have been enough with that lens, and use ISO 480 or so.

You'll just have to go back...
Click to expand...

Might be my crappy laptop. :) Thanks for the tip Ken!
 
That first image on the thread is really good imho, stands out the most for me and I'm viewing on my crappy Laptop at the moment so that says something :D Seriously though some superb work, lovely reflection and framing to it & colours! Did you try moving closer also and getting a 50:50 reflection from the water without the foreground rocks in?
 
Excellent trip report and a super set of images. #9 is the stand out image for me, the strong diagonal running through the shot and the epic lighting make it a beauty.
 
9
20150826-_DSC3796

10 The guide at Pyramiden, a very funny and knowledgeable chap
Sasha, Pyramiden guide.

11 The lighter coloured building is the staff quarters where a bear broke in (the red boarded window bottom left) and raided the kitchen (and scared the #### out of the staff!)
Staff quarters, Pyramiden

12
Statue of Lenin overlooking the town
Lenin overlooking Pyramiden

13
Abandoned hall in Pyramiden

14
20150826-_DSC3942


Thanks for looking, I can't recommend the place highly enough, and if I had enough disposable money I would've loved to do a several-day boat trip north or west to see more bears and more ice.

/Darth
 
Joeturner11 said:
That first image on the thread is really good imho, stands out the most for me and I'm viewing on my crappy Laptop at the moment so that says something :D Seriously though some superb work, lovely reflection and framing to it & colours! Did you try moving closer also and getting a 50:50 reflection from the water without the foreground rocks in?
Click to expand...

Thanks Joe, don't think I did but will take a look (had a big problem with really annoying tourists wandering around and chasing the wildlife.

The Weasel said:
Excellent trip report and a super set of images. #9 is the stand out image for me, the strong diagonal running through the shot and the epic lighting make it a beauty.
Click to expand...

Thanks Andy, really struggle with composition and took a pot-shot at this due to the lovely light.
 
No.2 from your original post is excellent. I think that would look good as a large print.
 
Would love to go there. Quite jealous.
 
2 and 12 from the first set for me. No. 2 especially!!

Good work.
 
A nice collection - it sounds like you had an amazing trip to a fascinating place.

It reminds me of an old saying........It's not quite the end of the world, but you can see it from there!

Chris
 
Love these. What an amazing place. Thanks for sharing them.

I almost got a chance to go to work there years ago but the contract was delayed and I went elsewhere.
 
desf said:
Love these. What an amazing place. Thanks for sharing them.

I almost got a chance to go to work there years ago but the contract was delayed and I went elsewhere.
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But there are no trees!
 
Thanks folks, if you want to see some proper shots of Svalbard check out my friend's website: http://www.stuartthomson.no/#!/portfolio/G0000yQNMxZ2HIYY

He also put together a wonderful video of his shots:
View: https://vimeo.com/100518522



Foxbat Flyer said:
A nice collection - it sounds like you had an amazing trip to a fascinating place.

It reminds me of an old saying........It's not quite the end of the world, but you can see it from there!

Chris
Click to expand...

Thanks Chris, that sums it up perfectly!!
 
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