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At the end of August last year, I was coming to the tail end of my busiest summer photo workshop season to date. I had quite literally been all over the place since mid-June. Whether I was photographing puffins on Grímsey, roaming the Icelandic Highlands or sailing through East Greenland, I gave my all during every workshop. And now, it was time to close my summer season by spending two whole weeks in the area around Disko Bay in West Greenland.
Disko Bay, Ilulissat and the UNESCO Icefjord in Greenland have quickly become some of my favourite photography locations so I was very eager to spend two weeks there. To optimise my time, I had decided to run the same photo workshop back-to-back. This meant that each week I would be joined by one of my good friends, Nigel Danson (during the first week) & Mads Peter Iversen (during the second week). How did both photo workshops go? And what were the differences between the two weeks? Let’s dive in!
The conditions during both photo workshops were very different. One day you’re soaring above the Icefjord in moody weather…
… and next you find yourself in the most colourful and vibrant sunset. This allowed us to take incredibly varied images.
Photo Workshop Report: West Greenland with Nigel Danson
I had been looking forward so much to again spend time in Ilulissat. Since my first visit there, in the middle of winter, it had left a big impression on me. Every time I go back, it almost feels like coming home in a way. Upon arrival at the Ilulissat airport, we were met with snow as a blizzard had just blown through the area. Quite unusual in the summer months – even for Greenland.
That first evening, we immediately headed out for a private charter onto the Icefjord. Having a private charter is the perfect way to explore the area for photography as the boat crew just brings us wherever we want to go, while constantly adjusting the boat for the best angles. It was a great evening, filled with stunning light.
Little did we know that this was pretty much it for super colourful sunsets. The rest of the week would take a turn for worse, with moodier weather. Usually the weather is very stable in this area of Greenland, at least during summer, yet we were faced with some stormy weather. This made things certainly more ‘interesting’ at times. For photography, I sometimes feel as if moodier weather creates a more fitting atmosphere for the environment we are shooting in. Even though we didn’t get many vibrant sunsets, the photography potential was still excellent! Especially our visit to Eqi glacier was in some of the best conditions I have seen there thanks to the colder and moodier weather.
In the second half of the trip, we travelled across Disko Bay to visit a tiny village on Disko Island called Qeqertarsuaq. The crossing was challenging, the stormy weather had created pretty large swells which forced us to first sail north to circumvent the unfavorable swells. This made what is normally a one and a half hour trip into a four and a half hour trip! It was certainly challenging, especially for someone like me who sometimes suffers from sea sickness, but it didn’t affect the group atmosphere one bit. Upon arrival, we explored the town and enjoyed an exceptional meal at the hotel. We had hoped to explore the island more but due to heavy rain and dense fog, we were not able to. The next day, we traveled to another village, just south of the Icefjord where we were met with some of the most incredible cloud inversions I’ve seen in a long time. One of those images can be seen in the list below, which contains my some of favourite shots of these two weeks. The rest of the trip gave us calmer weather, with some more moody days. I especially enjoyed one of the last days where we got very misty conditions at the Icefjord.
On the final day, right before we were due to leave for the airport, the news broke that Icelandair had cancelled all flights in and out of Greenland due to a big storm hammering the coast of Eastern Greenland. This meant that the first group got to enjoy an extra day before heading back home, which we filled in with some extra shooting and editing sessions.
When we arrived in Ilulissat, the area had been coveted in fresh snow which is a rather unusual sight during summer.
We didn’t just photograph icebergs but also walked around quaint Greenlandic villages and even made time to photograph the unique Greenlandic sled-dogs. Here you can see Nigel giving his all to get the shot!
Because we don’t just stay in a beautiful & quaint hotel, but also a conveniently located one, we have the ability to have our boat charter pick us up at the hotel pontoon.
But sometimes, the incredible amount of ice gets pushed towards the shoreline and even prevents our boat from docking there!
The obligatory group photo on the final evening of the photo workshop – with happy faces!
Photo Workshop Report: West Greenland with Mads Peter Iversen
Because our first group couldn’t depart Greenland, it also meant that the second workshop group couldn’t fly into Greenland either. Thankfully, because we operate this workshop with flights included, we could keep the groups together while I was dealing with the organizational part of the workshop (eg. making sure everyone had a hotel room for the night, booking dinners & lunches, …). My other two minions, Mads & Nigel, kept the groups busy with photography.
But even though this workshop started off with a lost day, it wasn’t any less of an experience. We managed to reschedule our private boat charters so we wouldn’t lose out on much time on the water. After they arrived, we were immediately met with a beautiful evening during which we got to spend time with a humpback whale and got some beautiful sunset light to top it off. And this beautiful light would pretty much last throughout the trip, which made this workshop completely different in terms of light. The group atmosphere was great.
Even when we travelled to Disko Island, which took us the normal amount of time to cross Disko Bay, we had incredible weather conditions. This allowed us to explore more of the surroundings and hike to an incredible area filled with basalt columns. We also experienced a gorgeous sunrise, with an epic iceberg near the town, combined with foggy conditions. It almost made me feel a bit sad that we didn’t get to experience this area to its fullest potential on the first workshop. After returning back to Ilulissat, we had another stroke of luck. That evening the northern lights forecast looked excellent which meant we spent our evening out near the Icefjord where we got some amazing photographs of beautiful northern lights. Curiously enough, because you are located so far north, the northern lights most often appear south of Ilulissat, which means they are located above the Icefjord.
Because I had to juggle the boat charters around due to the flight cancellation, we ended up on a final trip on the Icefjord on the last night. The light was nothing short of spectacular and it may even have been the most incredible evening on the entire workshop. It’s safe to say that there were only happy faces on the flight back to Iceland!
After a long night of shooting out on the water, it’s so great to be able to just walk off the boat and into the hotel.
Because the nights are getting dark enough that time of year, we were fortunate enough to get some northern lights action!
Another happy group during the final lunch, before we headed off onto the Icefjord for a final night of photography.
My Favourite Images Taken On These Photo Workshops
Usually I limit my favourite images to 5 (or the occasional 6) but because I have combined both photo workshops into this single blog, I ended up creating a more expansive list. Especially because the weather conditions, and conditions on the water, were very different most of the time. I use my drone a lot on a photo workshop such as this one as it gives me the flexibility to truly go everywhere I want to in order to get the best possible angle. Enjoy!
An abstract shot of one of the more unique icebergs I spotted while sailing on the Ilulissat UNESCO Icefjord.
This image was taken using the Canon EOS R5 (https://jvn.photo/go/eosr5/) + Canon RF 100-500mm (https://jvn.photo/go/rf-100-500mm).
Even before sunset, the golden light you can see on the Icefjord complements the lovely blue hues of the icebergs.
This image was taken using the Canon EOS R5 (https://jvn.photo/go/eosr5/) + Canon RF 100-500mm (https://jvn.photo/go/rf-100-500mm).
This stunning sunrise awaited us one morning near Qeqertarsuaq, a village on Disko Island. This moment only lasted briefly before the sun disappeared behind the clouds on the horizon.
These images were taken using the DJI Mavic 3 Pro (https://jvn.photo/go/mavic3pro).
Towards the end of summer, there are less whales in the area as they are starting to migrate south. However, on both workshops we saw several whales. This one is a shot I’ve been hoping to capture for a while: a top-down shot of a whale swimming near an iceberg. It’s not perfectly how I have envisaged it but it brings back good memories nonetheless.
This image was taken using the DJI Mavic 3 Pro (https://jvn.photo/go/mavic3pro).
On this very moody and foggy day, I put the capabilities of the 3x telephoto lens to the test on my DJI Mavic 3 Pro. I really liked this pointy iceberg in the background, which I could not have captured with the telephoto lens.
This image was taken using the DJI Mavic 3 Pro (https://jvn.photo/go/mavic3pro).
One morning, while we are staying in the small village of Qasigiannguit, we woke up to a cloud inversion. In this frame, I used a nearby mountain ridge as a focal point to show off the incredible conditions.
This image was taken using the DJI Mavic 3 Pro (https://jvn.photo/go/mavic3pro).
Often the key is to fly your drone very close to your subject, which is what I did in this case. By doing that, you add a lot of depth and scale to the image.
This image was taken using the DJI Mavic 3 Pro (https://jvn.photo/go/mavic3pro).
It’s the first time I spotted a little waterfall coming down one of the icebergs in this area. While not as impressive as the big waterfalls you get in, for example, Svalbard, it proved to be a perfect subject for a drone shot nonetheless.
This image was taken using the DJI Mavic 3 Pro (https://jvn.photo/go/mavic3pro).
There are so many subject, foregrounds and beautiful scenes to be found. Of this single shot alone, I was able to capture 5 different variations, all showing something different. This one was my favourite because of the duality between the foreground iceberg and the one in the background.
This image was taken using the DJI Mavic 3 Pro (https://jvn.photo/go/mavic3pro).
I really liked the unique shape of this iceberg. As I positioned my drone, a bird landed on top of it, adding some scale to the image.
This image was taken using the DJI Mavic 3 Pro (https://jvn.photo/go/mavic3pro).
If you’d like to photograph Disko Bay and its icebergs for yourself, come and join me on the 2027 West Greenland photo workshop.
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