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East Greenland

reimagined

By Mountain-Forecast.com

This is a record of a trip I made to East Greenland in August 2005. All these shots were taken using an 8.2 megapixel Canon EOS-1D Mark II with EF 24-70 f/2.8L lens that was released back in 2004. Although a big and bulky camera, it was ideal for a trip like this - solid enough to bang tent pegs in with and ideal for using with gloves on. A decade on, sensor technology has moved on in leaps and bounds, but so has post processing software. This means that I was able to re-process my pick of the images using Aperture and the NIK software collection from Google, and in particular the Dfine 2 module that gave many of the night shots a new lease of life by filtering out digital noise. Hence the title: reimagined.

This trip is among my most successful from a photographic point of view. Selected photos have been used in exhibitions in the Norwegian Church in Cardiff, the Cardiff Winter Wonderland (2009) and the aurora shots in particular can be found on magazine covers, drinks coasters, CD covers and even a paperweight for the Canadian Tourist Board!

This photo collection captures the scenery, people, icebergs and something I was very lucky indeed to see: the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights). Three consecutive cloudless nights allowed for excellent views of the aurora over the fjords surrounding the island. I was out in the freezing cold for 2-3 hours each night and I hope you’ll agree, it was worth it. Enjoy visiting East Greenland.

I joined an expedition to Kulusuk which is a small island about 8 km (5.0 mi) from north to south and 11 km (6.8 mi) from west to east. The mostly Inuit population numbers just under 300 people.

It is said that 10th Century Norse settlers gave Greenland its name as a cunning marketing plan. It is written that Erik the Red “named the land Greenland, saying that people would be eager to go there if it had a good name.” In the short summer period it is indeed a very nice place to visit. People are often surprised at the huge diversity of flora and fauna that appears when the snow melts. As can be seen below, it is far removed from people’s impression of a flat expanse of white ice.

What are these photos about?

people

What are these photos about?

icebgergs

What are these photos about?

aurora borealis

The colour of the aurora depends on which atom is struck by charged solar particles, and the altitude of this meeting: Green - oxygen, up to 150 miles in altitude; Red - oxygen, above 150 miles in altitude; Blue - nitrogen, up to 60 miles in altitude; Purple/violet - nitrogen, above 60 miles in altitude. More photos from this northern lights series can be seen on my flickr set

What are these photos about?

[below] storm force winds can roll off the ice cap in the background and cause great damage. This photo is the result of a storm that blew a load of ice into the harbour, trapping a lot of fishing boats.