Grazza

Grazza said:
I'll bear in mind the "wallpaper" comment when making further selections...

And don't forget the DOOM/game skies!

If you look very closely at the first one, you'll be able to make out some little specks on the ice (right of centre - one large and two small - spread out in a line) - these are polar bears (mother and two cubs).

On the beach of sorts under the glacier? It's hard to understand the scale of it all.

Kristian Ronge said:

Truly beautiful photos... You could've made a career for yourself as a photographer for National Geographic or something.

Thanks... though I didn't feel that way myself when I made a mistake that left me unable to get any photos of the Aurora Borealis over Greenland earlier this year.

So, overall, how would you grade the trip?

Best I've ever been on. (I'll add a "probably" to that though, as it's hard to compare very different experiences with one another.) I'll definitely go back there.

myk said:

And don't forget the DOOM/game skies!

Unfortunately they don't tend to tile too well. But anyone who wants to use any of my photos in that way is welcome to.

On the beach of sorts under the glacier? It's hard to understand the scale of it all.

Yes, mom is around pixel (1580,564), and I think the babies are around (1361,576) and (1261,578). Hard to say though, as I was switching between binoculars and camera, and so was taking pictures somewhat "blindly". The scale is indeed disorientating. That is a huge glacier (and a well-studied one - see this, for instance), and the highest peaks in this area are about 1100 meters above sea level. The fjord is by definition at sea level, of course.

These are from the following day (when the temperature reached a sweltering 12 degrees Celsius), and mostly taken in and around Ny-Ålesund, the world's most northerly community (there are only small weather stations further north, in Greenland and Canada). Nowadays its primary purpose is as a base for scientific research. It started off as a mining community.

<img src=http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/149/sany1091rq9.th.jpg>

I presume these are the world's most northerly petrol pumps. They take credit cards and on this particular day were vigorously defended by an arctic tern.
<img src=http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/5362/sany1127mi3.th.jpg>

The Space-Geodetic Observatory. I would have got a bit closer to it than this, but I wasn't armed.
<img src=http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/3085/sany1142pu0.th.jpg>

World's most northerly train (no longer functional) - a relic from the mining days.
<img src=http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/3301/sany1183av0.th.jpg>

These mountains are called Tre Kroner (Three Crowns), and are pretty much the emblem of Ny-Ålesund.
<img src=http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/8519/hpim2410tz7.th.jpg>

Rather than yet more midnight sun, here is a midnight rainbow.
<img src=http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/6087/sany1191fw0.th.jpg>