Our guest blogger this week is Iain Williams, a wildlife and nature photographer based out of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. His recent photos of polar bears taken near Churchill, Manitoba were picked up by Reuters.

Initially, I completed a Certificate in Photography at Seven Hills College of Art, however, other pursuits lead me elsewhere and I worked for several years in the Ambulance Service and in operating a SCUBA diving business. During this time, photography remained a strong interest. In the late 1990’s I completed a Bachelor of Science Degree with First Class Honours majoring in palaeontology.

Although I reside in Tasmania, most of my photography involves traveling to other regions for assignment and freelance work. With my photography, I prefer to concentrate on producing emotive images of animals that invoke a sense of purpose rather than only documenting the occurrence of a particular species. Most of my work is terrestrial, however, when time is available I am equally at home photographing beneath the water.

Staying warm.

Preparation & Transport to the Arctic
There are a number of ways to travel to the Arctic; unfortunately, all are expensive and require a high level of logistical support. I decided to engage the services of Frontiers North to help take out the logistical nightmare of traveling to and living on the ice for roughly 14 days. Frontiers North operate a number of large scale military style vehicles suitable for traversing and living on the tundra. To actually go out on the tundra without some type of support such as offered by Frontiers North is exceptionally foolhardy. Not only are the temperatures frequently sub zero, but polar bears roam the tundra freely and it’s in places like this that mankind is not the apex predator.

Frontiers North’s fleet of polar bear-resistant vehicle called Tundra Buggy is built in Churchill, Manitoba.

One of the advantages when engaging a company to assist you (or joining a pre-arranged trip) is that you don’t have limits with regard to the amount of equipment you need to bring for an assignment. You still must be mindful with what you take with you, but you don’t have to drill holes in lens caps to lighten the load, or cut your toothbrush in half. This said, you still have to reach Winnipeg by a commercial flight to board a private charter flight to Churchill. I must admit it was wonderful to be able to carry everything on board a charter jet and not have to travel through several checkpoints of security to arrive at the flight almost naked (after weight limitations).

Arriving in Churchill, the next leg was to be transported to what is called the “launch point”. The launch point is situated approximately 20 miles from Churchill and is basically where the Canadian road system terminates; everything north of the launch point is tundra and wilderness, only accessible by specialist vehicle or via helicopter.

The crew transfers from a Tundra Buggy to a helicopter.

Equipment
Spending 14 days away and not really knowing what you’re going to be shooting in what circumstances can be tricky. Often wildlife action happens quickly and you must be able to analyze and react to changing conditions if the photograph is to be a success; focal length, exposure and composition must be second nature. To facilitate differing focal lengths without changing lens and losing valuable time, I normally use 2 Canon pro bodies. One body will have a 500mm f4 lens while the other body will have either a 300mm f2.8 or 70-200mm f2.8 lens attached. I keep 2 1.4 tele-converters in my pockets at all times for added reach if necessary. Usually I would use a Gitzo 1325 tripod and floating head, however, in the Arctic I used a beanbag filled with rice and foam packing cubes. For landscapes I used a standard 17-40mm f4 lens and a 24-100mm f2.8 lens.

The air in the Arctic is relatively dust free (snow has little dust), so changing lenses and keeping sensors clean is not a hassle. The main concern is keeping your equipment dry and stopping, condensation from occurring on lenses. To counter the problem of condensation, I choose to leave my equipment in the cold and not carry it back into the warmth of the accommodation area at night.

Pre-Visualization
Nearly every photographer has heard this before – visualize what you want before you shoot the subject. This is easier said when shooting in a controlled environment such as a studio, however, the adage does have merit when photographing wildlife.

Before I left for the Arctic, I scoured the Internet looking at what images were already available. I then made a mental list of what I thought I wanted to photograph, and what aspect of the Arctic experience was important to me. Then, I thought of possible ways to market the images. Before departure I contacted known buyers of Arctic (polar bear) images and outlined my plans; Often a company will seek the opportunity to have someone shooting something just for them.

Of course nothing rarely goes according to plan, and often other situations present themselves. What is important here is the process of thinking ahead of time as to what you or somebody else may or does want – then shooting accordingly. Nothing is worse than returning from a trip and a potential buyer saying, “I need more space in front of the image”.