After we left Svalbard, we headed North and crossed 80 degrees North. Now, that may not seem like a big deal, but the North Pole is at 90 degrees (naturally), so when we crossed 80 degrees, that put us about 600 miles from the North Pole. To help put it in perspective, Toronto is at 43 degrees North, Los Angeles is at 34 degrees North…you get the picture.

Next up was crossing the Greenland Sea. Here’s a little time lapse of our passage through a really large field of sea ice we encountered as we got closer to Greenland:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I had no idea that we’d actually break through ice, so the bow of the ship proved to be a thrilling place to watch sea ice get crushed under our ship’s weight. A few times, we even spotted Polar Bear tracks in the ice. Their individual tracks were the size of dinner plates.

Another incredible sight during the crossing was spotting a Blue Whale. Yes, a freaking Blue Whale. It’s one of the most elusive beasts on the planet, the largest to ever roam the Earth, and we were lucky enough to spot one off our port in the early afternoon. One biologist on board put our sighting into perspective by saying that his friend once spent 18 months at sea searching solely for Blue Whales, and came up empty handed. For wildlife spotting, that quickly became an instant highlight for many people on board.

A little trivia for you today as well: quick, what does the flag of Greenland look like?

Give up?

How awesome is their flag?! Thue Christiansen, the flag’s designer, said this about the meaning of the flag:

“the large white part in the flag symbolizes the ice cap and our fjords are represented by the red part in the circle. The white part of the circle symbolizes the ice bergs and the pack ice, and the large red part in the flag represents the ocean”.

After a few uneventful, rolling days at sea, we arrived off the coast of Greenland in the early evening on July 23rd, an immediately got a sense of what the next week would entail: tall, spiraling, craggy peaks, long fjords, delicate tundra, quaint hamlets and icebergs of every size:

Next: crossing the Denmark Strait, and onto Iceland and the Westman Islands.

Last month, I photographed wonder kid Bilaal Rajan for Toronto Life magazine. Bilaal began fund-raising when he was four years old. He now goes shoeless for a week or so every year to raise awareness of people living in poverty.

Here’s how the portrait was laid-out in the magazine:

I love seeing my portraits used in such a strong, graphic layout. Makes me fall in love with mag’s all over again.

Bilaal’s incredible story can be seen in this month’s Toronto Life magazine, which is on newsstands now.

Back in May, I had the extreme pleasure of shooting for French Glamour magazine and their lovely editor Myriam Weil. What made this shoot so interesting is that the piece we shot concentrated on the urban farming that is happening throughout Toronto, from the perspective of a progressive French beauty magazine. Myriam had really done her research, and we featured programs in Toronto that I had never heard of, namely:

Not Far From The Tree – The core of our programming is our residential fruit-picking program, where we pick fruit from trees that would otherwise go to waste. We help fruit tree owners make use of the abundance of fruit that their trees offer by dispatching teams of volunteers to harvest it for them. One third goes to the fruit tree owners, another third goes to the volunteers for their labour, and the final third is distributed (by bicycle or cart) to community organizations in the neighbourhood who can make good use of the fresh fruit. http://www.notfarfromthetree.org/

Sharing Backyards – Sharing Backyards encourages urban gardening by connecting those who have the space to garden with those who would like to garden but don’t have the yard space. It connects neighbours of all kinds in an atmosphere of trust – doing something the beautifies the homewoner’s yard and provides fresh food. Garden partners share the cost of gardening supplies and the abundance of the crops. http://sharingbackyards.wordpress.com/

Lorraine Johnson, City Farmer – We had a great time profiling Lorraine, and her illegal, and bountiful city chickens. Loraine is the author of the very popular book Adventures in Urban Food Growing. http://www.dmpibooks.com/book/city-farmer

Not long after our visit, Lorraine’s chicken Roo died. So as a little tribute to that chicken, and the eye opening experience that Roo & Lorraine gave both Myriam and I, here is a fine portrait of Roo:

The September issue of French Glamour is on newsstands now.

As some of you devoted readers know, a month ago I was awarded the job of a lifetime: document the Quark Expedition tourist experience aboard the Akademik Shokalskiy over two weeks, exploring the Svalbard island of Spitsbergen, as well as Eastern Greenland, and Iceland. The trip did not disappoint, and it truly was the job, and trip, of a lifetime.

As the expedition had three distinct destinations, I’ll break-up my re-cap this week into three postings: Spitsbergen, Eastern Greenland, and Iceland.

Our trip started in Longyearbyen, on the Svalbard island of Spitsbergen. It’s a remote hamlet, but you wouldn’t know it when staying there. We stayed at the comfortable Blu Radisson, and the town featured a Gant store, and several other trendy Norwegian stores. It’s a far cry from my Arctic experiences in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, which were much more rugged. In Longyearbyen, there is a viable tourist presence, unlike anything I encountered in Cambridge Bay.

Longyearbyen

While in Longyearbyen, I did manage to visit the Global Seed Vault (aka: the Doomsday Vault). It’s very inconspicuous, and the exterior of the entrance is very accessible. In fact, during our short bus ride from the airport to our hotel, I asked the driver if the Seed Vault was very far away. “It’s right up there”, he replied bluntly, pointing to a distinct sliver of concrete up on the hillside. I wrote about it a little last month, but essentially the point of this project is to save plants (wild, agricultural, etc.) from becoming extinct as a side-effect of crop gene manipulation, or due to a global catastrophe such as climate change (the tunnel is 130 metres above sea-level), or nuclear war. Good times.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

It was in Longyearbyen that I began to realize the power of the Polar Bear in this part of the world. It is not advised that you leave the settlement limits (it’s clearly marked with signs bearing the picture of a polar bear). If you choose to do so, you have to carry a firearm which can be rented from the town. Traveling further afield requires explicit permission from the Governor of Svalbard. It was here that I also found out that the word Arctic essentially means “with Bear”, and Antarctic means “without Bear” (there are no Polar Bears in the Antarctic).

From Longyearbyen, we boarded the Akademik Shokalskiy, and set off to explore the West coast of Spitsbergen. What makes the trip aboard the Akademik Shokalskiy so remarkable is that it is a very versatile ship that has ice breaking abilities, it can get relatively close to shore, and can deploy up to 4 Zodiacs and 6 sea kayaks to explore the coastline and make landings for scenic hikes.

The Akademik Shokalskiy bow.

The Akademik Shokalskiy stern.

Some of our highlights during our time exploring Spitsbergen included:

A tundra hike along the towering cliffs of Spitsbergen:

Sea kayaking along the 14th of July glacier, and seeing Puffins and Bearded Seals:

Getting within 60 yards of a group of sleeping Walruses:

Watching 6 Polar Bears from our Zodiacs, feeding on a dead, submerged whale, in the driving snow:

Other notable highlights included visiting Ny Ålesund, the world’s most northern settlement, crossing 80° (600 miles from the North Pole), and generally settling into the lifestyle of living on a ship.

Next: crossing the Greenland Sea, and encountering sea ice en route to Eastern Greenland.

I just wanted to let you keen readers who have been nice enough to ask that yes, I had an incredible trip, and I’m back safe and sound. The thing is, I came back to a mountain of new assignments which has kept me from some quality blog writing time. I’ll be able to cobble my trip diaries together this weekend, and look forward to sharing some great stories from my Arctic expedition with you all next week.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

My friend Peter at Best Made Company, has suggest watching the Rock Hudson classic Ice Station Zebra:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du7ls7v2uYQ

So if I watch Ice Station Zebra, I think I have to watch The Thing as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG10O204lEg&feature=related

My friend Catherine, Photo Editor at Toronto Life, has suggested reading After Nature by W.G. Sebald. I’ll save this one for when we’re crossing the Greenland Sea:

I also think rereading Herman Melville’s Moby Dick will be in order as well:

Please send me your suggestions!

Next up was securing a new tripod system. I’ve decided to go with a Gitzo Explorer tripod, which besides being blindingly expensive, is extremely light and very versatile. I’m going to pair it up with a basic Manfroto fluid head, which I’m really looking forward to having as I’ve only ever owned a geared head, which is absolutely useless for motion.

I’ve also just purchased a field recorder, which I’m really excited about using. It’s the Zoom H4N, which is a portable audio recorder, and is going to allow me to capture the unique ambient sounds of the trip. I listen to a lot of BBC when I drive, and I’ve been inspired by the ambient audio recordings in their field reports. I really think that if I don’t capture the sounds of glacial icebergs melting, the ship’s engines chugging, and Russian navigators pouring over maps, my motion pieces would be flatter without them.

I’ve pretty much secured the bulk of what I need, so I’m feeling a bit more relieved. Now I have to see if this will all fit in my baggage…

The trip will last two weeks, under the Arctic’s midnight sun, aboard the Finnish-built ship Akademik Shokalskiy. The trip starts with a flight from Oslo, to the remote Norwegian island of Spitsbergen at Longyearbyen. Spitsbergen is the largest of the Svalbard Islands, an Arctic archipelago, first visited by Europeans in 1596. From there, we go northward, crossing 80°, 600 miles from the North Pole, and then head west across the Greenland Sea. Once we hit Greenland, we head south, exploring its extensive eastern shoreline, including Scoresbysund, the largest fjord complex in the world, and the birthplace of many icebergs. Along the way, we’ll be seeing Arctic Terns, Arctic Skuas, Long-tailed Ducks, Kittiwakes, Glaucous Gulls (I’m a bird nerd, ok?), as well as Walrus, Muskox, and Polar Bears. The trip will then end with a crossing of the Denmark Strait, an exploration of the Westman Islands of Iceland, and a final flight home from Reykjavik.

So for the next few weeks, besides finishing off several other commissions and assignments, I’ll be planning and packing for the trip of a lifetime. I intend on keeping a detailed account of the preparation, departure and experience of the trip here on the blog, so stay tuned.

And to make matters even more thrilling, I’ll be without cel reception or internet while on the ship for the first time in many, many years. It will be a sort of digital cleanse.

I can’t wait.

The Photo Editor Clare Jordan, and Art Director Domenic Macri of Report of Business magazine proposed the idea above with a few days to spare, and we were lucky to have a friend’s child stand-in as the blackboard artist, and my assistant and wardrobe stylist stand-in for the owners of the company. Everything was shot in camera, except for the board interface.