Polar Bears and the Wildlife
of Svalbard/Spitsbergen
June 2022 Photo Tours
7-day tour: June 3-11, 2022 Price $10,595
7 openings
10-day tour: June 10-21, 2022 Price: $14,395
Single Supplement, Longyearbyen only: $TBA
Check out the 5 minute video on
Svalbard's wildlife photography
opportunities -- filmed on these
two trips in 2017.
An exclusive shoot limited to
only TEN participants!
Attention!
This is one of our favorite trips. We use a wonderful ship -- the envy of artic tour leaders -- that allows us passage in areas where larger boats cannot go. This special 10 day trip will maximize our time in the ice, for polar bears and for walruses, and other wildlife.
All Participants will recieve our latest book - POLAR BEARS - A Visual Essay -
featuring incredible photos, including those of one of our Arctic Guides!
Arctic Fox, Harp Seal
Parasitic Jaegar and Kittiwake, Common Eider
Svalbard, Norway, is widely known as the new Polar Bear Capital of the World, where bears can be seen hunting or roaming the pack ice, snow fields, or shorelines of this ruggedly beautiful island landscape. In addition to Polar Bears, our tour is timed to maximize our opportunities for all of the wildlife found this far north, from Walruses and Bearded Seals to Arctic Terns and Eiders.
King Eider photo composite
Our ship is one of the most sought-after in the islands, the M-S Stockholm,a beautiful vessel that is ideally suited for photography.
With only twelve photographers, ten participants and Mary and I, there is plenty of room on deck for photography. The vessel's primary attraction is the low decks, allowing the lowest possible shooting angle for photography of any vessel, other than that done from a zodiac.
Our Itinerary
Our Tour begins when the group arrives in Longyearbyen on the island of Svalbard, far above the Arctic Circle. We've rented two SUV vehicles for our first days in Svalbard, where we'll go, in the afternoon, to photograph the nesting Common Eiders, Barnacle Geese, and possibly Arctic Fox and Jaegers, and we'll look for and hopefully photograph the incredibly well-camouflaged Rock Ptarmigans and the unique wild Reindeer that roam the tundra.
We'll have two chances at photographing these subjects, on the afternoon of our first day and the morning of our second, before we board the Stockholm for our journey north towards the ice and polar bears. Few if any other tour offers these opportunities for land-based photography of these species.
For the next six full days we'll be traveling along the northwestern, northern, and eastern coasts of Svalbard, exploring the fjords, bays, and surrounding ice for polar bears, seals, walruses, and birds.
Exactly where we go will be determined by the ice, especially the pack ice which, a year in advance, can simply not be predicted. If the ice behaves 'normally,' we'll be photographing at the impressive Fourth of July Glacier, the incredible Common Murre nesting colony at the Henlopen Straits, and the pack ice somewhere at sea.
For a far more complete idea of a 'typical tour,' if there is such a tour in this land, please read either our 2017, 2015 or our 2013 trip report aboard the Stockholm or our 2012 scouting report where we were aboard a larger ship, with over fifty passengers and where we were only participants scouting out the locations.
That experience convinced us that
we would only lead our own Svalbard trips on a smaller boat like the incredible Stockholm.
In Brief, our itinerary will be:
Day 1, Arrive in Longyearbyen and do a PM land excursion via SUVs for Common Eiders at the nesting colony, Barnacle Geese, Rock Ptarmigan, Reindeer, landscapes, etc.
Arctic Fox photo composite
Day 2, AM land excursion to the Common Eider nesting colony, and the other subjects listed above. After lunch we'll visit the Museum which highlights the natural and cultural history of Longyearbyen and the Arctic.
PM. We'll be heading out to sea in the mid-afternoon, beginning our journey north.
Days 3-9 (7 Day Tour), Days 3-12 (10 Day Trip). We'll be at sea, where we'll either photograph from zodiacs or
another boat, or both, depending upon the conditions. Weather and ice permitting, we'll be traveling into bays and fjords and straits, looking for and hopefully photographing Atlantic Walruses, Bearded Seals, Harbor Seals, Polar Bears, various birds, and incredible landscapes.
Day 10 (7 Day), Day 13 (10 day). We'll be returning to Longyearbyen and departing in the afternoon to Oslo.
Again, a review of our 2013, 2015 or 2017 trip reports will give you a great idea of this trip, and will also explain why we must use the qualifier 'weather and ice permitting' because we are in the extreme far north, the land of ice and polar bears.
Highlights
We are using what may be the most sought-after photography vessel in Svalbard, the Stockholm. With only ten photographers and Mary and I, we'll have plenty of space for shooting, and plenty of time for personal attention to your photography needs. Our trip is designed for photography, and between our unique land excursions in Longyearbyen and our cruising, via the ship or by small boats, we'll maximize every opportunity we have.
The image here shows all of us as we're photographing a mother bear and her cub. Everyone has a great position, and there is no struggling to squeeze in or to shoot over another photographer. Additionally, we're only a few yards above the level of the ice -- so low, in fact, that a bear could look into a porthole! We've even photographed at ice-level from open portholes, as well as from our zodiacs when that was the best option for photographing walruses or bears. In short, the photographic possibilities are incredible.
Northern Fulmars cruising by our boat, so close that a 70-200mm was usually too big a lens.
Most shooting was with much shorter lenses, which allowed us to include
the landscape as well as frame-filling birds in our shots!
Our Roles as Leaders, and Your Role
Mary and I know wildlife, and how to photograph it. We want everyone to obtain great photographs, and to enjoy himself or herself while doing so. Great photography requires patience, luck, and time, plus a degree of skill that our guides and Mary and I can provide. You can trust us that everything we do as your trip leaders will have those priorities - your photos and well-being as an individual in our group - in mind.
About Your Leaders
Joe and Mary Ann McDonald are the most prolific and active husband-wife wildlife and nature photography team in the United States today. At least half of each year is spent in the field, leading photo tours and safaris to Africa, South America, India, and other exotic locations, as well as various tours and workshops in the US. They conduct their Complete Nature Photo Course and Advanced (Flash) Courses at their studio at Hoot Hollow, in central Pennsylvania. At their studio they have hosted students and photographers from around the world, including photographers from Australia, the UK, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Belgum, South Africa, Singapore, Canada, and Mexico, as well as from all four corners of the US.
Additionally, in their free time Joe and Mary Ann occasionally conduct one-day and weekend seminars on photography, offered across the country.
As a husband/wife team, Mary Ann and I have won more times in the prestigious BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition than any other husband/wife team. To date we have had 15 firsts, seconds, or thirds -- and we have not entered every year. Our trips are not about us, however, they are all for you, but credentials seem to matter, and we have them.
Mary has written twenty-nine (29) children's books, including Leopards, Grizzly Bears, Woodpeckers, Flying Squirrels, Sunflowers, Cobras, Jupiter, Boas, Garter Snakes, Pythons, Rattlesnakes, Ducks, Chickens, Horses, and Cows, and a coffee table book, Out of the Past, Amish Tradition and Faith.
I've written several how-to wildlife photography books -- A Practical Guide to Photographing American Wildlife, The Wildlife Photographer's Field Manual, The Complete Guide to Wildlife Photography, Designing Wildlife Photographs, Photographing on Safari, A Field Guide to Photographing in East Africa, and the New Complete Guide to Wildlife Photography, African Wildlife, Creatures of the Night, The World's Deadliest, and several ebooks. We have produced an instructional video, A Video Guide to Photographing on Safari with Joe and Mary Ann McDonald.
Joe's latest books include Polar Bears in the Wild, Penguins in the Wild,
Big Cats in the Wild, and Gorillas in the Wild.
We are both editors for Nature Photographer magazine.
In addition to leading our trips to Tanzania, Mary and I personally lead photo safaris to Kenya, Brazil's Pantanal, Chile, Galapagos, Svalbard, India, Alaska, Rwanda, Yellowstone, Ecuador, Costa Rica, the Falklands, Antarctica, South Texas, Arizona, and some other spots, too!
Contact us by e-mail. at: info@hoothollow.com
Or Call (717) 543-6423 or FAX us at: (717) 543-6423
Polar Bears and the Wildlife
of Svalbard/Spitsbergen
June 2022 Photo Tours
7-day tour: June 3-11, 2022 Price $10,595
7 openings
10-day tour: June 10-21, 2022 Price: $14,395
Single Supplement, Longyearbyen only: $TBA
Check out the 5 minute video on
Svalbard's wildlife photography
opportunities -- filmed on these
two trips in 2017.
An exclusive shoot limited to
only TEN participants!
Attention!
This is one of our favorite trips. We use a wonderful ship -- the envy of artic tour leaders -- that allows us passage in areas where larger boats cannot go. This special 10 day trip will maximize our time in the ice, for polar bears and for walruses, and other wildlife.
All Participants will recieve our latest book - POLAR BEARS - A Visual Essay -
featuring incredible photos, including those of one of our Arctic Guides!
Arctic Fox, Harp Seal
Parasitic Jaegar and Kittiwake, Common Eider
Svalbard, Norway, is widely known as the new Polar Bear Capital of the World, where bears can be seen hunting or roaming the pack ice, snow fields, or shorelines of this ruggedly beautiful island landscape. In addition to Polar Bears, our tour is timed to maximize our opportunities for all of the wildlife found this far north, from Walruses and Bearded Seals to Arctic Terns and Eiders.
King Eider photo composite
Our ship is one of the most sought-after in the islands, the M-S Stockholm,a beautiful vessel that is ideally suited for photography.
With only twelve photographers, ten participants and Mary and I, there is plenty of room on deck for photography. The vessel's primary attraction is the low decks, allowing the lowest possible shooting angle for photography of any vessel, other than that done from a zodiac.
Our Itinerary
Our Tour begins when the group arrives in Longyearbyen on the island of Svalbard, far above the Arctic Circle. We've rented two SUV vehicles for our first days in Svalbard, where we'll go, in the afternoon, to photograph the nesting Common Eiders, Barnacle Geese, and possibly Arctic Fox and Jaegers, and we'll look for and hopefully photograph the incredibly well-camouflaged Rock Ptarmigans and the unique wild Reindeer that roam the tundra.
We'll have two chances at photographing these subjects, on the afternoon of our first day and the morning of our second, before we board the Stockholm for our journey north towards the ice and polar bears. Few if any other tour offers these opportunities for land-based photography of these species.
For the next six full days we'll be traveling along the northwestern, northern, and eastern coasts of Svalbard, exploring the fjords, bays, and surrounding ice for polar bears, seals, walruses, and birds.
Exactly where we go will be determined by the ice, especially the pack ice which, a year in advance, can simply not be predicted. If the ice behaves 'normally,' we'll be photographing at the impressive Fourth of July Glacier, the incredible Common Murre nesting colony at the Henlopen Straits, and the pack ice somewhere at sea.
For a far more complete idea of a 'typical tour,' if there is such a tour in this land, please read either our 2017, 2015 or our 2013 trip report aboard the Stockholm or our 2012 scouting report where we were aboard a larger ship, with over fifty passengers and where we were only participants scouting out the locations.
That experience convinced us that
we would only lead our own Svalbard trips on a smaller boat like the incredible Stockholm.
In Brief, our itinerary will be:
Day 1, Arrive in Longyearbyen and do a PM land excursion via SUVs for Common Eiders at the nesting colony, Barnacle Geese, Rock Ptarmigan, Reindeer, landscapes, etc.
Arctic Fox photo composite
Day 2, AM land excursion to the Common Eider nesting colony, and the other subjects listed above. After lunch we'll visit the Museum which highlights the natural and cultural history of Longyearbyen and the Arctic.
PM. We'll be heading out to sea in the mid-afternoon, beginning our journey north.
Days 3-9 (7 Day Tour), Days 3-12 (10 Day Trip). We'll be at sea, where we'll either photograph from zodiacs or
another boat, or both, depending upon the conditions. Weather and ice permitting, we'll be traveling into bays and fjords and straits, looking for and hopefully photographing Atlantic Walruses, Bearded Seals, Harbor Seals, Polar Bears, various birds, and incredible landscapes.
Day 10 (7 Day), Day 13 (10 day). We'll be returning to Longyearbyen and departing in the afternoon to Oslo.
Again, a review of our 2013, 2015 or 2017 trip reports will give you a great idea of this trip, and will also explain why we must use the qualifier 'weather and ice permitting' because we are in the extreme far north, the land of ice and polar bears.
Highlights
We are using what may be the most sought-after photography vessel in Svalbard, the Stockholm. With only ten photographers and Mary and I, we'll have plenty of space for shooting, and plenty of time for personal attention to your photography needs. Our trip is designed for photography, and between our unique land excursions in Longyearbyen and our cruising, via the ship or by small boats, we'll maximize every opportunity we have.
The image here shows all of us as we're photographing a mother bear and her cub. Everyone has a great position, and there is no struggling to squeeze in or to shoot over another photographer. Additionally, we're only a few yards above the level of the ice -- so low, in fact, that a bear could look into a porthole! We've even photographed at ice-level from open portholes, as well as from our zodiacs when that was the best option for photographing walruses or bears. In short, the photographic possibilities are incredible.
Northern Fulmars cruising by our boat, so close that a 70-200mm was usually too big a lens.
Most shooting was with much shorter lenses, which allowed us to include
the landscape as well as frame-filling birds in our shots!
Our Roles as Leaders, and Your Role
Mary and I know wildlife, and how to photograph it. We want everyone to obtain great photographs, and to enjoy himself or herself while doing so. Great photography requires patience, luck, and time, plus a degree of skill that our guides and Mary and I can provide. You can trust us that everything we do as your trip leaders will have those priorities - your photos and well-being as an individual in our group - in mind.
About Your Leaders
Joe and Mary Ann McDonald are the most prolific and active husband-wife wildlife and nature photography team in the United States today. At least half of each year is spent in the field, leading photo tours and safaris to Africa, South America, India, and other exotic locations, as well as various tours and workshops in the US. They conduct their Complete Nature Photo Course and Advanced (Flash) Courses at their studio at Hoot Hollow, in central Pennsylvania. At their studio they have hosted students and photographers from around the world, including photographers from Australia, the UK, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Belgum, South Africa, Singapore, Canada, and Mexico, as well as from all four corners of the US.
Additionally, in their free time Joe and Mary Ann occasionally conduct one-day and weekend seminars on photography, offered across the country.
As a husband/wife team, Mary Ann and I have won more times in the prestigious BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition than any other husband/wife team. To date we have had 15 firsts, seconds, or thirds -- and we have not entered every year. Our trips are not about us, however, they are all for you, but credentials seem to matter, and we have them.
Mary has written twenty-nine (29) children's books, including Leopards, Grizzly Bears, Woodpeckers, Flying Squirrels, Sunflowers, Cobras, Jupiter, Boas, Garter Snakes, Pythons, Rattlesnakes, Ducks, Chickens, Horses, and Cows, and a coffee table book, Out of the Past, Amish Tradition and Faith.
I've written several how-to wildlife photography books -- A Practical Guide to Photographing American Wildlife, The Wildlife Photographer's Field Manual, The Complete Guide to Wildlife Photography, Designing Wildlife Photographs, Photographing on Safari, A Field Guide to Photographing in East Africa, and the New Complete Guide to Wildlife Photography, African Wildlife, Creatures of the Night, The World's Deadliest, and several ebooks. We have produced an instructional video, A Video Guide to Photographing on Safari with Joe and Mary Ann McDonald.
Joe's latest books include Polar Bears in the Wild, Penguins in the Wild,
Big Cats in the Wild, and Gorillas in the Wild.
We are both editors for Nature Photographer magazine.
In addition to leading our trips to Tanzania, Mary and I personally lead photo safaris to Kenya, Brazil's Pantanal, Chile, Galapagos, Svalbard, India, Alaska, Rwanda, Yellowstone, Ecuador, Costa Rica, the Falklands, Antarctica, South Texas, Arizona, and some other spots, too!
Contact us by e-mail. at: info@hoothollow.com
Or Call (717) 543-6423 or FAX us at: (717) 543-6423
Polar Bears and the Wildlife
of Svalbard/Spitsbergen
of Svalbard/Spitsbergen
June 2022 Photo Tours
7-day tour: June 3-11, 2022 Price $10,595
7 openings
10-day tour: June 10-21, 2022 Price: $14,395
Single Supplement, Longyearbyen only: $TBA
Check out the 5 minute video on
Svalbard's wildlife photography
opportunities -- filmed on these
two trips in 2017.
An exclusive shoot limited to
only TEN participants!
June 2022 Photo Tours
7-day tour: June 3-11, 2022 Price $10,595
7 openings
10-day tour: June 10-21, 2022 Price: $14,395
Single Supplement, Longyearbyen only: $TBA
Check out the 5 minute video on
Svalbard's wildlife photography
opportunities -- filmed on these
two trips in 2017.
An exclusive shoot limited to
only TEN participants!
Attention!
This is one of our favorite trips. We use a wonderful ship -- the envy of artic tour leaders -- that allows us passage in areas where larger boats cannot go. This special 10 day trip will maximize our time in the ice, for polar bears and for walruses, and other wildlife.
All Participants will recieve our latest book - POLAR BEARS - A Visual Essay -
featuring incredible photos, including those of one of our Arctic Guides!
Arctic Fox, Harp Seal
Parasitic Jaegar and Kittiwake, Common Eider
Attention!
This is one of our favorite trips. We use a wonderful ship -- the envy of artic tour leaders -- that allows us passage in areas where larger boats cannot go. This special 10 day trip will maximize our time in the ice, for polar bears and for walruses, and other wildlife.
All Participants will recieve our latest book - POLAR BEARS - A Visual Essay -
featuring incredible photos, including those of one of our Arctic Guides!
Arctic Fox, Harp Seal
Parasitic Jaegar and Kittiwake, Common Eider
Svalbard, Norway, is widely known as the new Polar Bear Capital of the World, where bears can be seen hunting or roaming the pack ice, snow fields, or shorelines of this ruggedly beautiful island landscape. In addition to Polar Bears, our tour is timed to maximize our opportunities for all of the wildlife found this far north, from Walruses and Bearded Seals to Arctic Terns and Eiders.
King Eider photo composite
Our ship is one of the most sought-after in the islands, the M-S Stockholm,a beautiful vessel that is ideally suited for photography.
With only twelve photographers, ten participants and Mary and I, there is plenty of room on deck for photography. The vessel's primary attraction is the low decks, allowing the lowest possible shooting angle for photography of any vessel, other than that done from a zodiac.
Our Tour begins when the group arrives in Longyearbyen on the island of Svalbard, far above the Arctic Circle. We've rented two SUV vehicles for our first days in Svalbard, where we'll go, in the afternoon, to photograph the nesting Common Eiders, Barnacle Geese, and possibly Arctic Fox and Jaegers, and we'll look for and hopefully photograph the incredibly well-camouflaged Rock Ptarmigans and the unique wild Reindeer that roam the tundra.
We'll have two chances at photographing these subjects, on the afternoon of our first day and the morning of our second, before we board the Stockholm for our journey north towards the ice and polar bears. Few if any other tour offers these opportunities for land-based photography of these species.
For the next six full days we'll be traveling along the northwestern, northern, and eastern coasts of Svalbard, exploring the fjords, bays, and surrounding ice for polar bears, seals, walruses, and birds.
Exactly where we go will be determined by the ice, especially the pack ice which, a year in advance, can simply not be predicted. If the ice behaves 'normally,' we'll be photographing at the impressive Fourth of July Glacier, the incredible Common Murre nesting colony at the Henlopen Straits, and the pack ice somewhere at sea.
For a far more complete idea of a 'typical tour,' if there is such a tour in this land, please read either our 2017, 2015 or our 2013 trip report aboard the Stockholm or our 2012 scouting report where we were aboard a larger ship, with over fifty passengers and where we were only participants scouting out the locations.
That experience convinced us that
we would only lead our own Svalbard trips on a smaller boat like the incredible Stockholm.
In Brief, our itinerary will be:
Day 1, Arrive in Longyearbyen and do a PM land excursion via SUVs for Common Eiders at the nesting colony, Barnacle Geese, Rock Ptarmigan, Reindeer, landscapes, etc.
Arctic Fox photo composite
Day 2, AM land excursion to the Common Eider nesting colony, and the other subjects listed above. After lunch we'll visit the Museum which highlights the natural and cultural history of Longyearbyen and the Arctic.
PM. We'll be heading out to sea in the mid-afternoon, beginning our journey north.
Days 3-9 (7 Day Tour), Days 3-12 (10 Day Trip). We'll be at sea, where we'll either photograph from zodiacs or
another boat, or both, depending upon the conditions. Weather and ice permitting, we'll be traveling into bays and fjords and straits, looking for and hopefully photographing Atlantic Walruses, Bearded Seals, Harbor Seals, Polar Bears, various birds, and incredible landscapes.
Day 10 (7 Day), Day 13 (10 day). We'll be returning to Longyearbyen and departing in the afternoon to Oslo.
Again, a review of our 2013, 2015 or 2017 trip reports will give you a great idea of this trip, and will also explain why we must use the qualifier 'weather and ice permitting' because we are in the extreme far north, the land of ice and polar bears.
Highlights
We are using what may be the most sought-after photography vessel in Svalbard, the Stockholm. With only ten photographers and Mary and I, we'll have plenty of space for shooting, and plenty of time for personal attention to your photography needs. Our trip is designed for photography, and between our unique land excursions in Longyearbyen and our cruising, via the ship or by small boats, we'll maximize every opportunity we have.
The image here shows all of us as we're photographing a mother bear and her cub. Everyone has a great position, and there is no struggling to squeeze in or to shoot over another photographer. Additionally, we're only a few yards above the level of the ice -- so low, in fact, that a bear could look into a porthole! We've even photographed at ice-level from open portholes, as well as from our zodiacs when that was the best option for photographing walruses or bears. In short, the photographic possibilities are incredible.
Northern Fulmars cruising by our boat, so close that a 70-200mm was usually too big a lens.
Most shooting was with much shorter lenses, which allowed us to include
the landscape as well as frame-filling birds in our shots!
Mary and I know wildlife, and how to photograph it. We want everyone to obtain great photographs, and to enjoy himself or herself while doing so. Great photography requires patience, luck, and time, plus a degree of skill that our guides and Mary and I can provide. You can trust us that everything we do as your trip leaders will have those priorities - your photos and well-being as an individual in our group - in mind.
Joe and Mary Ann McDonald are the most prolific and active husband-wife wildlife and nature photography team in the United States today. At least half of each year is spent in the field, leading photo tours and safaris to Africa, South America, India, and other exotic locations, as well as various tours and workshops in the US. They conduct their Complete Nature Photo Course and Advanced (Flash) Courses at their studio at Hoot Hollow, in central Pennsylvania. At their studio they have hosted students and photographers from around the world, including photographers from Australia, the UK, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Belgum, South Africa, Singapore, Canada, and Mexico, as well as from all four corners of the US.
Additionally, in their free time Joe and Mary Ann occasionally conduct one-day and weekend seminars on photography, offered across the country.
As a husband/wife team, Mary Ann and I have won more times in the prestigious BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition than any other husband/wife team. To date we have had 15 firsts, seconds, or thirds -- and we have not entered every year. Our trips are not about us, however, they are all for you, but credentials seem to matter, and we have them.
Mary has written twenty-nine (29) children's books, including Leopards, Grizzly Bears, Woodpeckers, Flying Squirrels, Sunflowers, Cobras, Jupiter, Boas, Garter Snakes, Pythons, Rattlesnakes, Ducks, Chickens, Horses, and Cows, and a coffee table book, Out of the Past, Amish Tradition and Faith.
I've written several how-to wildlife photography books -- A Practical Guide to Photographing American Wildlife, The Wildlife Photographer's Field Manual, The Complete Guide to Wildlife Photography, Designing Wildlife Photographs, Photographing on Safari, A Field Guide to Photographing in East Africa, and the New Complete Guide to Wildlife Photography, African Wildlife, Creatures of the Night, The World's Deadliest, and several ebooks. We have produced an instructional video, A Video Guide to Photographing on Safari with Joe and Mary Ann McDonald.
Joe's latest books include Polar Bears in the Wild, Penguins in the Wild,
Big Cats in the Wild, and Gorillas in the Wild.
We are both editors for Nature Photographer magazine.
In addition to leading our trips to Tanzania, Mary and I personally lead photo safaris to Kenya, Brazil's Pantanal, Chile, Galapagos, Svalbard, India, Alaska, Rwanda, Yellowstone, Ecuador, Costa Rica, the Falklands, Antarctica, South Texas, Arizona, and some other spots, too!
Contact us by e-mail. at: info@hoothollow.com
Or Call (717) 543-6423 or FAX us at: (717) 543-6423
