Blog from Greenland – The foxes

Arriving at Illulissat approximately 200 km north of the polar circle was beginning to feel like the start of my journey. Now I was going after what had been the original concept of my story the Arctic foxes.

I went to the hostel and repacked my stuff and immediately called my friend Espen to ask if he was up for an outing in the evening. Espen had already made plans to take me sailing in his boat and a few hours later, we were heading north among the icebergs. The light was great and I was looking for icebergs and landscapes with the right colours and shapes. We followed the coastline and then headed out to sea towards a large island. The water was completely still and I had good time to focus on my photography and took a good amount of shots in the 5 hours that we spend sailing around. We came ashore around 2 o’clock in the morning and I just had a few hours to sleep before I had to move on to the fox site.

My head was hurting from dehydration and my lack of sleep as I woke up to the chime of my alarm at 5.30. In the Arctic the air is very dry and I often forget to drink the water that I need. I have tried this many times before, so as I fumbled to the shower I tried to console myself that it would all be over very soon. I drank as much water as I could and repacked my gear for the upcoming trip but as I stackered trough the city on the gravel road with my 50 kg of equipment I surely wished that I could just go home and be back with my family eating a nice breakfast. But just half an hour later I was standing at the front of a boat cruising among the icebergs once more. The wind was cold, I had zipped my jacket, put on my cap and gloves, unfolded my tripod and had set up my gear but most importantly I held a cup of warm coffee with sugar and artificial creamer between my hands and my happiness was back.

After 7 hours of sailing I finally reached my destination near a small glacier where I went a shore. This was the place were I would be spending the next days looking for foxes. At first the area looked dauntingly huge and large mountains were towering above me. I had no idea of where to start looking for the foxes and no idea of where to set up my tent. Fortunately one of the guys working in the area had seen the foxes around and could point me to a possible den site.

After a short hike I found a beautiful bay with pieces of ice from the glacier that had washed a shore and a bit further up I found a good place on some soft lichen ground close to some cliffs where I could set up camp. There were loads of mosquitoes around but I quickly got used to them as I focused on assembling my tent.

I spent the rest of the day doing my recognisance of the area and gawking at the beautiful surroundings.

The next days all felt like one. I spent most of my time photographing the foxes and trying to get as many aspects of their lives as possible. Time was of no matter and I worked when the light was there and only got to sleep about 3 – 4 hours a night.

I found the first fox close to a small habituated tourist camp about a mile from my tent when I was walking there to have a chat with some of the guides working there.

A small high pitched barking told me that I had unsuspected disturbed a fox. As I scanned the area before me I saw her sitting on a rock ledge barking with the glacier in the background. I turned around to walk in another direction and got down low between some hills to try and get back to the fox from the other side as to have the sun behind me. I thought I had succeeded when suddenly she was standing less than 2 meters in front of me barking on a small outcrop. I was thrilled with excitement. Suddenly I had found the foxes and I was closer than I had ever dreamt of being.

The first fox I met as it barked at me. The foxes proved not to be as timidas I had thought and would often venture right up to me.

I spent the next two hours photographing her and as she became more and more interested in what I was doing she tried to chew my camera bag and even came to smell my shoes as I was sitting in the lichen. So much for camouflage…

The next couple of days I found 2 different females all with cubs and spent my time hiding out in a camouflage net as to get the most natural behaviour from the foxes. Every time I needed to change angle I just moved slowly and although the foxes knew I was there they didn’t react much to my presence.

Me in my camoufalge net in front of the foxes den and with the glacier in the background.

The hours sped along and I needed to remind myself every time I had to eat or drink. The mosquitoes however didn’t need a reminder or an invitation and I think it is safe to say that I have never in my life seen so many mosquitoes in the Arctic as I did this time. I have to check with somebody whether this could be a sign of global warming as well.

I tried to make a few shots in backlighting but I didn’t work because there was so many mosquitoes that the camera sometimes found it hard to focus on the foxes and when it finally did, mosquitoes ruined the picture. These little critters were too much even for the foxes sometimes, so the foxes went into their dens to sleep, which gave me quite a bit of waiting time. But this is perhaps one of the bits about nature photography that I love the most. The waiting game, the thought of what happens next and the instant rush when the wildlife returns. For me this time was pure meditation and even though my legs were asleep and that my head was tired I could feel that this was something that I have been in need of for a long time after spending the last couple of months on the office.

When I am in the nature like this I feel complete, the smells, the sounds and the silence can sometimes make tears come to my eyes and then I think about how lucky we are to have all this around us. Nature is there for us all to enjoy and I just hope that it will stay that way.

A few days later, back in Illulissat I had got all the shots that I came for. My computer now had several gigabytes of foxes, ptarmigans, and landscapes and I was happy and tired at the same time. I had been walking several miles in the mountains with my heavy backpack. I had definitely not had my rations of water and all the muscles in my body was aching but still there was time to go sailing among the icebergs on a midnight cruise. I almost decided not to go and just to stay in the city and relax but I had promised myself to work hard. And I did not regret that…

As I boarded a small boat and we sailed out of the harbour a led coloured cloud came in from the west carrying a small amount of rain. The water was completely still and the blue and green colours of the icebergs were beautifully toned against the dark sky. Later on it turned brighter again and I had the most beautiful trip of the Icefjord ever. Onboard there were a small crowd of tourists complaining about the weather, as they had expected to see the midnight sun. I couldn’t help but telling them, that although I had been sailing on the Icefjord many times this was by far the most beautiful experience that I had ever witnessed in this area. After that we were all just big smiles and everybody enjoyed the nature in complete silence.

Now I am back in Denmark again. In front of me I have the daunting work of choosing and editing my images from this fantastic trip. The vivid images of my memory are still there, the smell of the tundra is still in my clothes and the quietness of the nature still infiltrates my mind reminding me what this is all about. I look at my daughters and think to myself, just how much I wish that these experiences that this nature will still be around when they will be at my age. That the Arctic fox and the beautiful glaciers and Icebergs will exist not only in photos but also in the real world up north.