Winter

During my 2019 winter expedition to the Norwegian Archipelago of Svalbard, I had the opportunity to get to places that were still inaccessible to ships because of sea ice. The furthest point I reached on snow mobile was the abandoned Soviet settlement of Pyramiden, roughly 110km away from the capital city Longyearbyen. The scenery on the way is absolutely breath-taking, a sea of white with large glacial valleys and tall peaks. My guide expertly led us through this maze of glaciers and gullies to our destination for the night, a small cabin at the foot of Nordenskiöld Glacier. After a rest we set off to look for polar bears on the frozen sea ice. As the late afternoon sun started to fade, we reached Pyramiden, the abandoned settlement that is now home to reindeer, ptarmigans, Arctic foxes and, occasionally, polar bears. Reaching around one of the main buildings, I noticed an Arctic fox. I lay down in the snow and started crawling towards it. The temperature at the time was close to -20ºC, which presented a few challenges. Firstly, the sheer number of layers needed to keep warm made it really difficult to approach in a nimble way, particularly with a lens as big as a 500mm f/4. Secondly, operating a camera in the cold with several layers of gloves can be quite tricky. Lastly, and to me the most challenging element, you need to alter your breathing to not introduce condensation in the viewfinder or screen, which would immediately freeze and render the camera unusable. To my delight, the fox did not seem bothered by my presence and let me get close enough for a shot. I was a couple of minutes into photographing when it decided to stand up and perform its stretching routine. Beyond the fact that this led to some of my most memorable shots, it was such a privilege to be so close to a wild animal in its extreme environment, displaying absolutely no signs of fear in my presence. Worth enduring the harsh conditions!
Shot on Canon 5Ds R and EF 500mm f/4 L IS USM II