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Arctic Shooting Advice?

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Victor Noir

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Hello all:

I'm three weeks from a shoot in the Arctic Circle... eventually heading to the North Pole as well as Franz Josef island. The shoot will entail a lot of 'icescapes': bergs, snowpacks, water and skies for a conceptual video art piece.

I've been told it's an extremely challenging environment in which to shoot--the extremes of temperature, glare, contrast and gods only know what else can make it ridiculously tough, especially if you don't quite, completely, know what you're doing (and that would be me)...

Any advice on filters, lenses, tips, tricks and incantations would be deeply appreciated.
 
I would strongly suggest a few thoughts for the conditions. I have not filmed up there but have done some survival stuff in cold environments.

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY !!! You will need to drink a couple of liters of water per day. Surrounded by all that ice and water you wouldn't think so but perspiration can be a bitch in those temperatures. People tend to over dress and sweat out a crazy amount of liquids daily. Remember its not thickness of attire that keeps you warm but the layers of air, warmed by your own body heat, that will keep you warm. Take all gloves off at night time if you find yourself snow holing for a while. Eat plenty of high calorie foods. Lastly, a good pair of shades, Oakleys perhaps, to keep that glare from your eyes. I have blue eyes, very fragile, and as such needed massive protection from the brutal sun reflections on mountainous peaks and snow.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Mark.
 
To start with it's (if weather and temperature allows) always better to try to just simply acclimatize the gear. So if the cold is not to much for it just leave it out for awhile before shooting. Places like igloo's and other "humid" places where the heat is all from body is a big mess. If it's really cold outside and a lot of people heating up it gets really humid but still freezes the "water". Places like the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi is hard to shoot in. I ended up with ice lumps in my gate when I did it, so beware of that.

If the temperature and wind etc gets to tough it's covers and heat-packs that's needed. You can also get electric heat blankets but it's another electrical instrument. Your better of designing a heat-pack blanket or try finding one (sorry can't be of help there).

As for covers there are people designing for RED as we speak (you can search for it) or check something like http://www.kata-bags.com/index.asp out.

regards,


Fredrik Callinggard
 
Call a lens tech and ask about getting your lenses winterized. Depending on what lube is in them they can get ridiculously stiff in extreme cold.

Nick
 
Its going to be the summer, as in "Land of the midnight sun". Make sure you carry some heavy duty mosquito repellant. Yes you'll need a parka for the permanent ice pack at the pole but it's NOT going to be -50 at this time of year. Although it can snow on any given day, inland on the Islands can get very warm on a nice sunny day at this time of year.

The Arctic circle has more to do with how much daylight you're getting in the summer. The further north you go, the higher the sun is in the sky in the north at night.

If you go out to the permanent ice pack make sure you have heavy duty sunblock. Some moron from LA had to be medivaced out because they didn't realize how strong the UV is reflecting from the ice. The atmosphere is thin over the poles and there are ozone holes over both poles as well. "Mr. I'm from LA so I'm immune" learned a very tough lesson.

You won't need to winterize your camera. Summer in the high Arctic is incredible.

I spent 6 years living all over the Arctic spending three years at 80 degrees north on Ellesmere Island at Eureka, two years at Mould Bay on Prince Patrick Island, and a year at "Fox Main" (Hull Beach) down on SouthHampton island. At expo 86 in the Canada pavillion a lot of the High Arctic footage and photographic prints were mine.
 
Victor Noir said:
Hello all:

I'm three weeks from a shoot in the Arctic Circle... eventually heading to the North Pole as well as Franz Josef island. The shoot will entail a lot of 'icescapes': bergs, snowpacks, water and skies for a conceptual video art piece.

I've been told it's an extremely challenging environment in which to shoot--the extremes of temperature, glare, contrast and gods only know what else can make it ridiculously tough, especially if you don't quite, completely, know what you're doing (and that would be me)...

Any advice on filters, lenses, tips, tricks and incantations would be deeply appreciated.
Click to expand...

Hi Victor, I'm heading up to the Arctic in the New Year and I am also interested in advice for this expedition. I would love to hear how your trip goes and any tips you can pass on when you get back.
 
Thanks so much for the responses so far--please keep 'em coming, especially for any advice on technical aspects of handling the glare, filter preferences, etc....

I know the trip (and hopefully the shoot) will be fantastic--there's actually a total solar eclipse happening a few days after getting to the Pole, with the path of totality passing right over us.... brilliant! And again I think to myself: "how the hell do i shoot this?!" but I tend to fly by the seat of my pants on such things and it usually somehow works out.

Can't wait!
 
I'm sure you're already all over this, but a good set of polarized filters, ND's and graduated ND's are a must for ice and snow.

I've never been to the Arctic, but I was down in the Antarctic last year in their summer... it was beautiful. Penguins stink though, you can smell a colony long before you ever see it. Oh, and Coke are wrong... there are no penguins in the Arctic, and no Polar bears in the Antarctic.
 
Love the coke comment Ed...

Don't forget UV filter. The Solar Eclipse is another story. You will need an aluminized Mylar filter (if You want the sun to look bluish), or metal-coated filters (chromium will make the sun look orange) - depends on the look You are after. Shoot the ISO-320 and monitor with RAW - don't worry about any "looks" at the time of capture - You are after perfect exposure... You may not get another chance in life for something like this...

Check this article:

http://www.mreclipse.com/Special/filters.html

It has all the available filters with their individual transmittances and good general break-down. Also the "sister" site is a must:

http://www.mreclipse.com/SEphoto/SEphoto.html
 
Again, many thanks for all this great advice. Yooz da best!
 
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