I recently completed a trip of 10 days at sea around Svalbard on the M/S Malmo. We encountered 18 polar bears during the trip but none were on snow or ice within lens range. Nonetheless, I was happy with some of the shots I got, including bears at the beach, seals and incredible landscape. Unfortunately, opportunities for polar bears may be more limited in the future as the local government is considering new restrictions prohibiting getting anywhere near the bears, even from the water.
Most shots were with the Sony a1 and 600 f4, but I usually had the 100-400 or 24-70 on the Sony a7rIV as well. Thanks for looking! Comments welcome.
Don Vilfer
Polar Bear Mom and second year cubs
ILCE-1FE 600mm F4 GM OSS lens600mmf/5.61/1000s800 ISO+0.3 EV
Arctic Fox
ILCE-7RM4FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens203mmf/6.31/1600s400 ISO+0.3 EV
Sleeping Polar Bear
Floating Ice
ILCE-1FE 600mm F4 GM OSS lens600mmf/4.51/800s200 ISO+0.3 EV
Thats a beautiful collection of images. They are all well done !! You make it hard to choose a favorite The last two PB shots are great. That blue ice is just awesome !!!
You got some great shots despite no bears on snow or ice. I like the seal shots too. I have been on the Stockholm, sister ship to the Malmo three times, July and August, in 2013, 2015 and 2017. Amazing difference in the environment, partly due to different seasons, but I think climate change also contributed.
These are just beautiful, well done! We were on the Malmo a few years ago on a similar trip, on our last day they had a small fire on board from some old equipment… all ended well. Btw, your fox turned into a flock of gulls!
Thanks for the update on the new regulations as well.
Thank you for the comment. Happy to share a couple foxes as well. It was interesting that the different foxes had varying color as their coats change from darker to white for winter. The company I went with was https://arcticwildlifetours.com/tours/.
The last two PB shots are great. That blue ice is just awesome !!!
