Landscape and wildlife from the Norwegian Arctic
Photos made with patience.
The photographic eye is composition. There is no right exposure, only one or few that are creative.
The Journal · 2015 Expedition
Eighty-four frames from the edge of the world.
In the summer of 2015 I sailed up the coast of Norway and into the Svalbard archipelago. I came home with polar bears, walrus, seabirds beyond counting and more ice than I knew what to do with. That voyage was 11 years ago. These are its 84 photographs, in 14 chapters, and every one of them was made with patience.
About
« It is the photographer that makes the picture, not the equipment. »
At fourteen, in a boarding school in Normandy, Michel Cohen was handed a Minolta and a darkroom. Black and white film, developed and printed by hand. Exposure, composition and depth of field, learned the slow way, by doing.
Decades later, a family trip to Svalbard in Norway’s high Arctic rekindled everything. Polar bears, arctic fox, seabirds by the hundred thousand, and landscapes that deserved more than the usual postcard picture. Playing with exposure time and light, he set out to give the same landscape a look no one had seen before.
Self taught, patient, and stubborn about quality, from film all the way to a Hasselblad medium format. Shooting since age fourteen, digital since 2015. These photographs are the result. Enjoy them in your home or office.
Age 14
A Minolta with a 50mm lens. Black and white film, developed by hand at École des Roches in Normandy.
College
A Canon F-1, carried on family travels. Film first, always.
2015
A Nikon D750 and a voyage to Svalbard, where photography became love again.
Today
Hasselblad medium format. The photographer makes the picture, not the equipment.
Prints & Services
Take the Arctic home.
01Fine Art PrintsMuseum grade archival prints of any photograph in the journal. Each print is made to order and sized to your wall, for your home or office.Enquire, price on request →02LicensingEditorial and commercial licensing of arctic imagery. All photographs are registered and copyrighted.Enquire, price on request →03CommissionsPrivate commissions for landscape and wildlife work, for collectors who want a place seen differently.Enquire, price on request →
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Photographs are registered and copyrighted ©. Prints, licensing and commissions on request.