在 “2016挪威北極生態探險之旅行前” 文內提到有關此次再度前往挪威北極(Svalbard群島)的目的和想法，其中最主要的想法是根據過去兩次經驗，以一個攝影人來說參加小團體行程似較能聚焦北極生態的拍攝，因此決定首次參加由挪威當地攝影師Sevin Wik帶隊的團體，由於人數不多(10人)可搭乘小型動力帆船，優點是機動性高並且可非常靠近拍攝的目標、行程內容彈性較高，但缺點則是生活的舒適性較差，無論如何我們是以拍攝照片為主要目的，在小團體中大家相互幫助、包容也是一番新的體會，此行見識挪威人個性的嚴謹和驚人的耐力，由於我是唯一的台灣人特別能體會他們對外國人的禮貌，而非經驗裡維京人的印象，在小船上生活均採互助使拍攝活動更加靈活充實。

In the blog of ” before Svalbard Photo Expedition Summer 2016″, I mentioned the thought about the trip again to Svalbard, among them the main point is as a photographer to join the small group can more concentrate on the wildlife shooting according to the previous 2 large group cruises, so the result was to join the local photographer Sevin Wik’s group, with total 10 people cruised by a powered yacht, the advantage is we have more flexible schedules and closer to the shooting subjects, but suffering a not much comfortable living condition comparing to the large group ones, nevertheless, our purpose of the cruise is to get more interesting images of the wildlife, further more we shared a help each other mode of the stay in a small photography group, I had at the first time experiencing the character and powerful endurance of the Norwegian people, as a Taiwanese, I experienced a different style of the tough Vikings which replaced by a more polite manners to the foreign people, we enjoyed a more colorful photo shooting by sharing one another the living or photography skills during the cruise.

The Cruise Map

  拍攝過程中有很多與北極動物近距離觀察的機會是非常難得的體驗，團員們都是很有經驗的攝影師許多器材也是我未曾經驗過的，如水底拍攝的器材包括閃燈等，此行團員們相互間攝影經驗的交換是非常珍貴而不是書本上學得到的，與團員們的兩星期相處，發現到他們對攝影的熱愛，譬如拍攝的角度、創意背景及影像的故事性等技巧，另外生活上的機動性和效率都是值得參考學習的。

We have had many chances to see the wildlife very closely specially the Polar bears, this is a very unique experience, the members in our group are all experienced photographers, their equipments to me are all first encountered in my photography carrier, such as the self made underwater camera and flash etc., I have gained a lot of information through the interchanging experience on photography, which it won’t be possible learnt in the class, furthermore, the inspiration from the group members such as the shooting angle、creative background and the story telling images etc., plus the effectively living attitude are all worthily mimic.

以下是此趟探險攝影旅程的日誌：

第一天：早上約11:30領隊Sevin招來他的朋友將我們的行李運到了碼頭，天空下著小雨預訂出發時間為中午12點，但須等一位英國籍的團員因天候不佳機場關閉無法到達，其他團員都是挪威籍在前一晚聚餐時都已見面認識，但一直到午夜12點機場仍然關閉，領隊決定出發了。

The diary of the cruise:

Day One:  Around 11:30am in the morning, group leader Sevin arranged the luggage on board, weather was drizzle, we planned to leave on 12 noon but one member from England still couldn’t catch up, the rest of us have all met last night, Sevin decided to start our cruise as waiting till the midnight.

第二天：經一晚睡眠因極地夏天是永晝天色總是明亮很難分辨日夜，看錶約5點左右簡單梳洗吃過早餐上甲板拍些海鳥，然時差及永晝效應又回到床上，不知經歷多少時間領隊叫醒大家好像發現北極熊的足跡，大家立即帶著裝備登上橡皮艇來到岸邊，發現一大群海象在岸上打盹，沿著岸邊航行果然看到一隻北極熊在覓食，每個人都很興奮發現此趟的首隻北極熊，快門聲此起彼落，領隊告知是一隻公熊大約4-5歲，我們一直跟拍直到它往山坡走遠後才返回船上，晚上船長介紹船上的設備和一些生活公約及最重要的安全守則，由於我是唯一的外國人他只能用英語說明了。

Day Two:  Through the whole night I got up around 5am, actually it was white night, the sun will not go down and hard to distinguish day or night, after breakfast I took some shoots of the birds, jetlag kept me in bed again, awaked by Sevin informed that have found the first polar bear of this cruise, As we approaching the shore there was a polar bear strolling along the water for foods, the noise of shutters blasted, Sevin thinks it is a male bear around 4-5 years old, we followed him until he moved to the hill.

第三天：今天船航行在北極的峽灣地區，一掃過去幾天的陰霾天氣明亮的太陽高掛天際，沿路經過一個許多冰磚的海域，中午大家登岸野餐並拍了些岸上的花卉，下午在佈滿浮冰的灣區發現一隻海豹我們近距離拍攝了些不同姿態的照片，晚餐前再次發現一大一小兩隻北極熊在岸上的小丘上睡覺，領隊建議大家吃過晚餐先去睡覺待北極熊開始活動時再去拍攝。

 

Day Three: Today we cruised toward the fiord, the weather turned out to be shinning, we passed through an area full of icebergs, an seal found on a ice, before dinner we found again 2 bears on the hill, Sevin suggested back to bed and come out to shoot until the bears have some activity again.

第四天：約早上3點左右，領隊招呼大家上橡皮艇到達昨晚來到的岸邊，由於夏天的永晝使人沒有清晨的感覺，陽光從雲中的縫隙射出照在遠方的山頭，像是探照燈一般，北極熊仍然不動如山，一整晚來來去去都沒什麼拍攝機會，下午氣候轉陰雨我們沿著岸邊尋覓又發兩隻北極熊，晚餐後要沿著大島(Spitzbergen)的西北角向東，由於另一邊是廣大的北極海因此海浪增大，小船航行感受明顯的起伏，陣陣大浪打在駕駛艙的擋風玻璃上，船身上下震盪有時超過30度吃了暈船藥只能躺下等待了。

 

Day Four:  About 3am, Sevin waked us up and boarded the zodiac, moving to the shore last night, the white night made no morning at all, sunshine striking out of the clouds lighting the remote picks just like a search light, no movement of the bears through the whole night, in the afternoon, when we cruised again around the shore there were 2 more bears found, we kept cruising along the north western corner of the Spitzbergen to the east in the evening, the strong wave of the North Pole sea drove the board dancing the whole night.

第五天：經過約12小時的上下顛坡被一陣鈴聲吵醒，我們航行到一個巨大的鳥類棲息懸崖壁，喧天價響的鳥叫已經聽不清同伴講話，詢問領隊告知這裡約有超過百萬隻以上，使用長鏡頭捕捉鳥群的飛行英姿，很近距離的拍攝鳥類在水面跟水底的活動，下午沿著大島(Spitzbergen)東北角往南航行，在一處岸邊發現一大群海象在岸上及水中或睡覺或嘻戲，海象的移動緩慢，移動幾步即須休息，每隻海象的體重據說平均在700-800公斤左右。

 

Day Five:  After 12 hours up and down in the bed, we arrived a bird cliff with over million birds surrounding there according to svein, nearly no voice could be heard between talks, we used long lens as 400mm, 500mm, even 800mm to shoot the birds flying and approaching to the sea or under the water to find better shoots, in the afternoon we cruised passing the northern east corner toward the south, along the way we found a group of walrus on the shore, their slow movement is because of their heavy weight around 700-800 kg each.

 

第六天：今天早上在岩壁上發現3隻北極熊一隻母熊帶兩隻小熊，因是首次看到在岩壁覓食的北極熊感覺很新奇，何時北極熊也開始素食，很容易連想是否氣候暖化使北極熊已無法在海冰上找到食物了。

 

Day Six:  In the morning we found 3 bears on the cliff which full of rocks and grass, this is my first time to shoot the polar bears on the cliff and get grass as the food, I was wondering that whether the bear have become vegetarian animal, maybe because of the global warming that force them move from the sea ice to the rocks for surviving.

 

第七天：早上約2點多領隊叫醒大家告知昨天那3隻北極熊又開始活動，在崖壁下方岩石縫中發現一隻小北極狐狸，他不斷來回遊走偶爾也靠近那3隻北極熊，好奇是否會被北極熊獵捕，想想機靈的狐狸豈會輕易狐入熊口，下午航行中在一片冰磚海域發現了幾隻海豹，再駛往東邊的一個小島”Wahlbergoya”時也發一隻在冰磚上休閒的小海豹。

 

Day Seven:  About 2pm, Svein waked us to take some more shoots of those 3 bears yesterday, today also found a small fox under the cliff sneaking in the rocks, occasionally he was approaching to the bears, I was curious that if the bear would catch him for food, in the afternoon we arrived an area of iceberg found some seals and keep cruising East to an island “Wahlbergoya”.

第八天：經過一個睡得較好的夜晚約早上7點船航行到昨天提到的小島，是在大島(Spitzbergen)的東北方的大片冰磚海域，來到一片像是冰河的大冰山區，發現了多達10隻以上的北極熊，同時也看到有很多分佈在海面上大片岩石上的大型海象，我們登上橡皮艇駛到岸邊，非常近距離的拍攝在岸邊覓食活動的北極熊，吃過晚餐陽光變得較為金黃色，類似低緯度的夕陽景象，但永晝的北極夏天太陽是不會下山，只是由東方移至西方，以背光的角度拍攝在北極熊的背上閃著的金色光線，回航時看看錶已午夜12點了。

 

 

Day Eight:  After a quite nice sleep, in the morning around 7 o’clock we arrived the area of the island yesterday mentioned, here the iceberg were scattering and we were approaching a huge glacier mountain, found more than 10 bears on there, there are also groups of walrus on the scattering big rocks in the sea, we jumped into the zodiac moved closing to the shore and had some closing shoots of the bear, after dinner we went again to get some shoots with a golden sun set color, but actually there is no real sun set in this season in the polar area, I did some shoots with a golden shinning lighting on the bear’s back, it was midnight as we drove back to the board.

 

 

第九天：今天起床得較晚看錶已9點多了，吃過早餐再次前往昨天的岸邊拍攝那批北極熊，因為下午要沿著大島(Spitzbergen)往西回航，經一整下午的航行來到一小島又發現兩隻在岩石山丘上的北極熊，這趟陸陸續續發現的北極熊根據領隊的估算已達約32隻，破了他多次來到此地的記錄。

 

Day Nine: Today I got up little late, we cruised again after breakfast to the shore for some more shoots on the bears, we cruised in the afternoon to the West of the Spitzbergen after 2 days stay, late afternoon we approaching an island and found again 2 bears, here we met a tourist ship, they were surprising on the record of our finding total 32 bears during this trip, and this also break the record of Svein’s Svalbard expedition.

 

第十天：早上約7點起床，感覺這幾天生活作息較為正常，不知不覺整個行成剩下最後4天了，航行到一在大島(Spitzbergen)北方的小島，岸邊發現了許多海象，上岸後能很近距離的觀賞它們的活動，下午繼續返航沿路尋找狐狸及北極馴鹿的蹤跡，船長發現起風可揚起風帆減少動力的消耗，也是此次航行首次使用風帆感覺好奇不已，但由於風大船體劇烈的搖晃，好像睡在戶外的搖床上，各位看倌可有聽說睡覺會愈睡愈累。

Day Ten:  Today I got up around 7, the living mode on board have become more stable, but we have only 4 days left of this cruise, arrived in a small island North of the Spitzbergen, found again a group of walrus, Svein did some very close or under water shooting of the walrus, in the afternoon we kept cruising back and the pursuit of foxes and reindeers, the wind was getting stronger skipper decided to use the sails for saving the energy, it was my new experience again, the fiercely board shaking made us felt like sleep on an outdoor swing bed hanging between trees.

第十一天：今天早上仍是約7點起床，船已沿著大島的西邊峽灣航行到一處岸邊，發現了幾隻馴鹿，領隊依以往的經驗會有北極狐狸的蹤跡，但登岸爬過幾個山頭仍然沒發現狐狸，深深體會大自然可遇不可求的力量，途中卻遇到多隻馴鹿散佈在山間，約晚上10點多領隊決定返回船上，但正要登橡皮艇時有人發現岸邊懸崖上看到狐狸，一群人攜著重重的裝備徒手登崖，爬到半山腰兩隻狐狸卻一溜煙向山裡跑去了。

 

Day Eleven:  About 7am our boat reached a fjord area in the West of the Spitzbergen, there were several reindeers scattered in the slope of the steep rock mountain, Svein informed that there might be foxes in the mountain, we climbed some distance but still no any trace of the fox, since it got late we decided back to the boat, before leaving one partner found 2 foxes up the steep mountain slop, when we climbed they just went back to the mountain.

 

第十二天：今天繼續往南航行在一個岸邊下錨，領隊建議大家登岸參觀一間黃色小屋，裡面懸掛了一些據說是20世紀初到此的德國探險家留下的照片和生活用品、器具等的物品，好像是一個小型博物館，下午來到回程都會經過的冰河峽灣，短暫停留後續航到一個國際氣象研究基地，上岸簡單觀光一番，了解這個20世紀初的煤礦小鎮還留有一些歷史建築物，使喜歡來北極的人對北極的發展有些進一步的了解。

 

Day Twelve:  On the way back to Longyearbyne, today we arrived to a shore there is a small hut which built in the beginning of 19 century by the German expeditors, we can see the photos, some household tools etc. like a mini museum, we cruised in the afternoon to the famous glacier gulf the “Lillehookbreen”, a compound of iceberg and glacier, as we further cruised back we also visited “NY Alesund” a polar weather researching base, it was a deserted mine in the early 19 century, we could see some historical buildings which should be interested as you like to travel to Svalbard.

 

第十三天：今天是此次行程的最後一天，抱著一絲希望能否發現更多狐狸，大夥登上橡皮艇，上岸後爬過幾個山丘，仍然沒有發現狐狸的蹤跡，倒是看到許多北極馴鹿，雖然我們很近距離拍攝它們但它們並不驚嚇，因此沒看到狐狸卻拍了許多馴鹿的照片，在山上待了3-4小時無所獲，只能說後會有期了，約晚上10點抵達港區這是睡在船上的最後一晚，已覺得蠻習慣了。

 

Day Thirteen: Today is the last day of our expedition, we hope to have some chance to find some more foxes, we climbed the rock mountain and went more inside but stayed 3-4 hours still couldn’t find any fox but some reindeers, we did some shooting of the reindeers and back to the boat, around 10pm we arrived Longyearbyne.

 

第十四天： 今天是在此的最後一個早上，並且要搭下午2點的班機返家，和同船的攝影同伴一一告別，雖然出發前大家都未曾謀面，但此時卻像是多年的朋友要分別一般的感覺，畢竟大家離家來到遙遠的北極相聚是非常難得緣份。

 

Day Fourteen: Today is the last morning of the expedition in Svalbard, and the same flight in the afternoon by SAS, the third time been here makes me feel like home, after saying bye-bye to the partners of the group, Svein drove me to the airport, I told him I will come back again.