Svalbard is a most unique environment, one of the northernmost settled areas in the world. It is overseen by agreement with Norway, and lies between northern Norway and the North Pole, near the Arctic Circle. It is truly the land of the midnight sun, and for several months a year, the sun does not set or rise at all and there are 24 hours of daylight. Naturally, there is a payback for this amount of daylight, and polar winter leaves inhabitants with no daylight at all for several months. It is cold for most of the year and especially frigid in the dark winter months. One has to be a hearty individual (there are about 2500-3000 in Svalbard) to survive the climatic extremes that exist here. But it is also a beautiful environment, with more than 60% of the land mass covered by glaciers, as one might expect. In my photos, I have tried to give a glimpse of what the land of Svalbard is like.
Because of the extensive ice, I had wanted to travel here to photograph for some time. What I did not expect, however, and what disappointed me was the absence of large icebergs. While there are icebergs during some parts of the year, it is quite variable and nowhere as consistent as Greenland, Alaska, or Antarctica. Nevertheless, I made the most of what sailed before my eyes. I hope that my photos are able to convey the majesty and beauty of this country. Most of my photos were taken off the deck of our primary ship, the National Geographic/ Lindblad Resolution, often at 1:00 - 3:00 in the morning! While we did go zodiac cruising, the absence of icebergs made these excursions less interesting than those of my Greenland and Antarctica trips. Also, having had knee replacement surgery during the past year, my hiking on ice had to be limited as a cautionary measure, less I dismantle the excellent work of my surgeon, Dr. Greg Martin of Boynton Beach, Florida. I am grateful to him for an outstanding knee repair that I waited for too long to do and did not desire to undo!
Once again, the weather was a factor in my ability to make photos, and there were some truly fine days and some very grey days, during which photography was challenging indeed. On a number of days, I spent hours walking around the deck of the ship, taking photographs from many different angles. I think that I came away with a respectable group of photos, some of which I have just started to post on this site. I will most likely add several more as I continue to plow through the images.
One last comment about Svalbard. It is the location of the World Seed Repository, a secure installation housed in Longyearbyen, the major city in Svalbard, in the extensive permafrost that contains millions of seeds should a natural disaster or a man-made one disrupt crop growth beyond easy recovery. The foresight of these people to undertake this incredible project is simply astonishing and may one day save mankind. Let us all hope that it is never needed.
Sunlit Cliff , Reflections, and Glacial Mountains, Svalbard 2026