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Svalbard Magic

Find Svalbard On The Map

Svalbard is another of those happy places for me.  It’s located above the Northern Polar Circle.  I have traveled to Svalbard every year except for a few during the pandemic.  It is a group of Islands that team with wildlife and spectacular landscapes.  I usually take a small ship with 12 passengers on this trip.  However, things may be changing.  I think 2022 may have been the last trip for me to Svalbard.  It’s getting crowded.  It was a few years back a place that only the hearty would visit.  There were only a few ships doing cruises there, and life was fine, and the wildlife encounters were really special.

Now there are large cruise ships, hundreds of passengers thinking they are doing an expedition in floating palaces.  All these extra people have stressed the wildlife as well as the eco-system.  Because of this the country of Norwary is about to impose somemstrict regualtions on the Svlabrd Tourist Industry.  These new rules will limit how many people can visit the region, how close to wildlife people can get and shut down certain areas that have been popular to visit. And, a few polar bears have been killed that got too close to tourists.  That is not right!

In the past we had incredible wildlife encounters with wildlife that came to us.  Now running a photo tour there is pointless as we have to be hundreds of yards away from the Polar Bear and Walrus.  Like Iceland which once was unknown it is wall to wall tourists and big buses today.  I haven’t been back to Iceland in years.  This kind of thing might be good for the economy but it comes with a lot of issues.

What were once gravel parking lots are paved with room for tourist buses.  There is litter everywhere, and vendors have food trailers there.  Places that had didt paths now have steel graeted walkways.  Places you used to be able to access are blcked off with ropes and no treaspssing signs.  ANnd, even with all that people ignore the signs and go where they aren’t supposed to go.

Deaths among toruists have been numerous from falls and drownings as it seems many touirists don’t have an ounce of common sense.

I could go on and on but times are chagning,  My workshop business will change too.  I won’t be visiting these locations.  The same for National Parks in America which seem to have the dumbest people visiting them.  I’m sure you have seen in the news videos of stupid people trying to have their picture with buffalo and bisen only to get gored or trampled.  So, I am going to change things up moving forward and doing less workshiop and thiose that I do will be far away from the crazies.

Stay tuned as I work this out and in the meantime enjoy these images from my last visit to Svalbard.


January 2023

Please Visit . . .

If you are interested in seeing more work by Kevin Raber and purchasing his work for your own, please visit RaberEYES.com

Kevin also runs workshops for photographers all over the world at Rockhopper Workshops

Kevin also has. a major website for all photography enthusiasts with articles, forums, tutorials, community, and more at photoPXL.com

Kevin also shares his work daily on Facebook and Instagram

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Antarctica 2020

This has been a strange year.  It all began with loads of optimism and has turned out to be something totally surreal.  The Worldwide Pandemic has changed everything.  But, before the Pandemic started I was lucky to get an Antratcia Workshop in and with Art Wolfe and Michael Durr as well as 28 guests.  We took this trip onboard The Magellan Explorer, a brand new ship run by Antarctica 21 the charter company I have been using for years.  Thie trip was an incredible experience and I wrote an article over on photoPXL.com with four videos and the trip log for the trip.  With this blog entry, I have included four photos but the article on PXL has a lot more plus the video will blow you away.  You can find the article at Antarctica Workshop Expedition 2020 – February 15-21, 2020.

Please check it out and enjoy the content and think about joining us in November 2021 when we take a 21-day journey to South Georgia Island and Antarctica.  This is the ultimate Antarctica Experience.



Please Visit . . .

If you are interested in seeing more work by Kevin Raber and purchasing his work for your own, please visit RaberEYES.com

Kevin also runs workshops for photographers all over the world at Rockhopper Workshops

Kevin also has. a major website for all photography enthusiasts with articles, forums, tutorials, community and more at photoPXL.com

Kevin also shares his work daily on Facebook and Instagram

 

 

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Architectural Abstracts

I love cities for a lot of reasons, especially for all they offer a photographer in subjects that can be photographed.  I take walks on the streets early in the morning and shoot people, buildings, light and shadow and even elements like door knobs.  I usually work with long lenses.  These were taken with a Fuji XT2 and a 100-400 zoom.

 

 

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A Day At Work

Video shoot at the Luminous-Landscape offices in Indianapolis
Video shoot at the Luminous-Landscape offices in Indianapolis

I am in a very busy two week video shoot on a variety of topics in a couple of different locations.   This shot was made yesterday in the Luminous-Landscape offices in Indianapolis.  Actually doubles as my gallery.  With me at the table is Lau Norgaard from Phase One.  We discussed in depth the new Phase One 100mp camera they recently released.  This is a good shot that shows what’s involved in doing a shoot.  Today we pick back up doing a tutorial on Capture One. Next week I’ll be in NYC doing a number for different videos and interviews on various topics.  Once we get it edited we will start sharing it on the Luminous-Landscape website.  Stay tuned.

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Icebergs In New Zealand

Tasman Glacier Terminal Lake by Aoraki/Mount Cook, New Zealand Panasonic GH2, 7-14mm zoom at 14mm 1/500th sec. at f/8, ISO 160
Tasman Glacier Terminal Lake by Aoraki/Mount Cook, New Zealand
Panasonic GH2, 7-14mm zoom at 14mm 1/500th sec. at f/8, ISO 160

This image was made at  Tasman Glacier Terminal Lake by Aoraki/Mount Cook, New Zealand with a Panasonic GH2, 7-14mm zoom at 14mm 1/500th sec. at f/8, ISO.  160.  New Zealand has so much to offer photographers.  Just an amazing place to take pictures and see amazing things.

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The Classic Post Card Shot

Classic Postcard, Scotland
Classic Postcard, Scotland

This was shot in Scotland on a lake that some rich Scottish guy made just so it would remind his wife of a lake back in America where she was from.  It’s one of those dream lakes.  Perfect in so many ways.  This shot was as if it was set up.  Row boat, fall colors, subtle clouds.  How could I go wrong?  I was very conscious though of the ones and composition as I made this image.  It works on many levels as a classic.

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Montgomery Reef

Montgomery Reef, Austrailia
Montgomery Reef, Austrailia

As you have seen from previous posts, i made a recent trip to the Kimberley region of Austrailia. Amazing doesn’t come close to describing what a great trip it was. we had a helicopter at our disposal (i wasn’t free) and it allowed us to go places and see things that weren’t possible without it. This is an image made from the helicopter of the Montgomery Reef and amazing place in the middle of the ocean off the coast of NW Austrailia.

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Magic Light In Tuscany

Magic Light On A Tuscany Hillside
Magic Light On A Tuscany Hillside

I am totally in love with Tuscany.  It’s a very different kind of landscape as it is big and broad and lacks a lot of foreground that I am so used to using in typical landscape shots.  So, I rely on light and the composition to keep the eye moving in the right direction.  This is some magic light.  After an early morning sunrise shoot we were driving down the road and there was great light lighting up the hillside through breaks in the clouds.  Made with the Phase One IQ160 camera with a 240mm lens.

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Antarctica Sunrise or Sunset

Antarctica Sunrise & Sunset - It was all the same

Antarctica offers a an environment of great photographs.  Dynamic, changing and never cliched.  You can be on shore or the deck of the ship and see and shoot just beautiful images.  This one was made one morning when I was on the deck all by myself.  And, I was presented with this shot of clouds, distant icebergs and the rising sun peeking through cracks in the sky.  Makes for some dynamic photos.  It then got darker and an hour later it was blue skies.  Things happen fast there and they are unpredictable.

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Lonely Fisherman

Newfoundland Fisherman

I love this shot.  This was done off the coast of Newfoundland while out whale watching.  We saw this guy in his dory like fishing boat and it just looked so cool.  I shot a number of images of this.  It was funny because we were not finding whales and we motored up this guy and he pointed in a direction and sure enough we found the whales where he pointed.  He was a crusty rough looking fellow.

Also, The blog may have fewer posts over the next three weeks.  I fly out to Austrailia tonight and then by this weekend to New Zealand to run a PODAS workshop there.  I’l post when I can.  www.podas.info if you’d like to follow the workshop.