Svalbard with Wild Wonders & PolarQuest III

The M/S Stockholm at the entrance of Kongsfjord

June 29, Ny-Ålesund, Kongsbreen & Ossian Sars
High 5 for Sterna p.

I was never really into people photography, but you may envision that focussing on the passers-by in a pedestrian zone in any larger northern-hemisphere settlement could deliver a stunning array of images: people from many nationalities and educational backgrounds, wanna-be super heroes to hobbits, dogs and handbags and accompanying humans, sports stars, rock stars, shoe stars, fake stars, people laughing, kissing, fighting, courtshipping, you name it.

When I look at my pictures from that 2 hour stroll through the village of Ny-Ålesund, the majority (50+) come from a stretch of probably 25 m along the main road, let’s call it “the Ny-Ålesund pedestrian zone without any shops” if you like. Despite the lower population density and lower temperatures and lower shopping-credibility, these images show human beings from at least six nationalities dressed in bright’n shiny colours, carrying plastic bags or camera bags, no pets though, showing very odd “flagging displays” - with their hands waving over their heads and most of them pulling faces in the range of surprise, despair, amusement or frustration. Neither because of a malfunctioning ATM in downtown Ny-Ålesund nor because of the latest fashion not having arrived up here, yet, but because of a handful of “a handful of birds”.

Ralph, Lars, Candace & Marion - defense mode

Pär Edlund - defense mode

Rather tiny birds really, a bit over 30cm long, weighing in on less than 100g! But, and that’s quite a beaky “but”, with amazing flying skills, a stomach full of fish-soup – yeees! – and sharp bills that will make almost any male-over-forty-head look like after a hardcore broken-bottle-fight in a barbarian club, if – yes – if you don’t raise your hand and make funny movements over your head to keep our feathered friends at a distance.

Kongsbreen glacier and kittiwake

À propos distance: Queen Mary II is appearing at the horizon and we better move on to Kongsbreen, the glacier around the corner. Thinking about the 3.000 something passengers though that will soon walk along that same stretch of road into Ny-Ålesund, well, the terns will have a fun day…

Please note that blogs reflect our photographers' opinions and not necessarily those of the directors of Wild Wonders of Europe.