The temperature dropped considerably today, but I survived day number two on the tundra. Polar bears really are amazing animals and it's been an amazing experience to share these past few days with them.
Polar bears have been the subject of major media attention this year, mainly due to the long-term threat to their survival posed by climate change. During this time of year (for approximately six weeks), polar bears gather at Hudson Bay just out side of Churchill to wait for the sea ice to form so they can venture out to hunt for food. As climate change melts more and more of the ice and extends the melt season, polar bears are being forced to wait longer, increasing their chance of starvation.
Here are few of my best shots from today. If these pictures don't convince you to do a little more to preserve the planet, I am not sure what will.
I promised that I would share some of the pictures from our first day on the Tundra. So here they are below. Yes, that is me looking like a serious photographer. Special thanks to SONY for supplying me with the SONY Alpha A900. I shot with it all day. The entire group enjoyed trying out the new A900. Most of the pics were shot with 300mm f/2.8 G lens. And yes, all of the pics below were taken by me!
I'll Blog more about the trip and the Tundra tomorrow. Special thanks to Andy Biggs for processing my photos. He made me look like a much better shot than I really am.
Where United failed, Air Canada delivered. I made it to Winnipeg via Toronto. After my flight from Chicago was finally canceled, Air Canada came through. I thought all was lost when my bag was MIA, but the Air Canada agent held the flight for my bag and I am now sitting in the Fort Garry Hotel.
I met the rest of the group briefly because I was so late. Unfortunately, I also missed the briefing/orientation on what not to do. I wonder if that included feeding the Polar Bears?
Tomorrow we fly to Churchill on the plane below. But I certainly, won't blame Canada. They got me here. Oh yeah, it's already cold.
My United Airlines flight to Winnipeg was delayed two hours. But while I was waiting, several people have already came up to me and asked me about the bag that I am carrying my gear in. As you may know, I am carrying my SONY gear in the new Gura GearKiboko bag designed by Andy Biggs. If you travel a lot, you might want to check out this review that I read on Flying with Fish.
I leave tomorrow for my Polar Bear adventure. As I started to pack, I wanted to share a picture of the amazing gear that SONY lent us for the trip. How cool is SONY?
I’ve backpacked through South and Central America. I’ve worked at an orphanage in Russia. I’ve even climbed in remote places like Machu Picchu and Angkor Wat. But in preparing for my Polar Bear Expedition with Andy Biggs, I came to a realization. I am a city slicker.
As I began packing my “cold weather” gear, I read a sentence that called cotton the “fabric of death,” as it stays wet, zapping valuable energy and dropping your core temperature. My wife immediately concluded that if the Polar Bears didn’t get me, frostbite would.
I immediately headed to my new favorite store Moosejaw. Layering is the way to go. Today’s high tech materials offer a plethora of light-weight highly compressible water/wind proof, and temperature regulating fabric options to fit the outdoor enthusiast needs such as polar fleece, primaloft, polarguard. I bought some capilene wicking under-garments, warm socks, hats, gloves, hand and feet warmers, etc.
I am expecting it to be cold, as it can get to minus 10 or even minus 20 degrees F. The upside is it could be 35F as a high and only a low of 20F at night. We will be staying at the Northern Lights Lodge. It certainly isn’t The Hotel Sax, but I am sure it will be fun. I’m excited that it has WiFi, so I can keep updating everyone about this adventure.
Many of Zapwater’s first clients were in the digital photography industry. Charter clients included Moab Paper and RIP manufacturer ErgoSoft. As Zapwater continued to grow and work in other industries, the photo industry remained a special place in my heart. Every year, I looked forward to my trips to industry shows such as CES, PhotoPlus and PMA.
So when I was given the opportunity to be a real photographer, I jumped at the chance.
Today, I will be packing in all of my new gear from SONY into my gura gear bag and preparing for a once in a lifetime trip. A huge thanks to SONY for lending the group some of their new products to test out on the polar bears. Some of the gear SONY sent us includes a DSLR-A900 and SAL-300F28G Lense, as well as some of its other new products. I’ll be sure to get some great shots!
I’ll be be posting about the trip daily on Zapwater’s blog. So definitely make sure you check back for updates.
Each year, thousands of photographers travel to New York City for PhotoPlus Expo, the industry’s cutting-edge tradeshow for all things photography-related. Ranked one of the top shows by Crain’s and Exhibitor Magazine, PhotoPlus draws attention from thousands of professionals, novices and students, alike. Zapwater was on hand at the show - which took place Oct. 23-25 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center on the city’s West side - representing clients Moab by Legion Paper and photographer Andy Biggs.
Featured at Moab’s booth this year were prints from photographers Bill Fortney and Mark Kettenhofen’s upcoming book, America from 500 Feet II. Printed on Moab’s award-winning Entrada Rag fine art paper, the photos received a lot of attention from attendees at the show.
America from 500 Feet II is a unique book of aerial photographs that capture breathtaking American landscapes from a motorized parachute 500ft in the air. As a proud sponsor of the book, Moab capped-off its experience at PhotoPlus by hosting a private meet-and-greet with the book’s photographers at its booth.
Nikon asked commercial photographer Chase Jarvis to test out the new D90 during one of assignments. They then posted behind the scenes footage online. Wow! As an agency that has done a considerable amount of work in the photo market space, this is pretty cool.
Thousands of photographers stopped by Moab Paper’s booth at the recent Photo Plus Expo at New York’s Jacob Javitz Center. Moab introduced its new line of Moenkopi line of Japanese Washi papers. Brought to market in conjunction with the Awagami Factory of Tokushima, Japan, Moenkopi is the newest product introduced by Moab and continues its tradition of developing and supplying the most innovative and unique inkjet papers available today.
The response was simply overwhelming but not surprising. The introduction of Moenkopi reiterated Moab’s dedication to introducing products that open the door to new levels of creativity.
Photographer Chris Conrad also put together an amazing display on Moenkopi featuring some of his images from his Ethereal Days series. Chris’ work is so original, I felt compelled to share it.
