Another side of the expedition
I selected these pictures to show another side of this expedition, aside from the polar bears, whales and birdlife, what does the ship, its crew and passengers look like through my lens?
Opportunities to walk on land are limited, so photographing from inside the vessel, I use features of the ship to frame my pictures; I wait by the windows or use doorways to frame the landscape outside. I play with the contrast between the human-made lines of the Lance and the natural lines of the landscape outside.
Scientists and sailors walk through the pictures and if I wait quietly for long enough, they ignore me and become part of the landscape.
The scientists watch for whales and I watch for scientists!
Image gallery
A glacial iceberg rises above floes of sea ice, with the Lance in the distance. Photo: Nick Cobbing
Heidi Ahonen (post doc) looks for whales from the bridge of the Lance. Photo: Nick Cobbing
Torre (1st mate in the lance crew) and Kine Øren (masters student) look out at an iceberg through the windows of the bridge. Photo: Nick Cobbing
Tiago Marques (ecological statistician) looks out as the lance approaches the southern edge of the Arctic Ocean sea ice. Photo: Nick Cobbing
Tiago Marques is an ecological statistician from Portugal, responsible for collating and interpreting the survey data. Photo: Nick Cobbing
Jon Aars (polar bear scientist) and Jade Garcia (Post doc), study the chart of Svalbard, to make a plan for the coming days of surveying. Photo: Nick Cobbing
Looking forwards across the bow of the Lance, towards an iceberg (made from glacial ice) which is floating amongst floes (made from sea ice). Photo: Nick Cobbing
Heidi Ahonen discusses the route of the survey with Torre who is the first mate on the Lance’s bridge. Photo: Nick Cobbing
Bjørne one of the ‘ABs’ or deckhands waits for the helicopter to prepare for take off, he wears fire- fighters protective clothing for safety. Photo: Nick Cobbing
The whale and polar bear surveying team enjoy a barbecue outside on deck, made by the crew working in the Lance’s galley. Photo: Nick Cobbing
Karen Lone (a Norwegian researcher working on polar bears) looks over the rail of the Lance, while the ship navigates through ice floes above the archipelago of Svalbard. Photo: Nick Cobbing
Dante Fontana (a helicopter technician from Sweden) checks the helicopter on the helicopter deck of the Lance, prior to a survey flight. Photo: Nick Cobbing