The Hamlet of Arctic Bay. My home for the next few weeks. Much to explore, much to discover, much excitement.
Arctic Poppy. One of the early flowers in bloom on the tundra, along with purple mountain saxifrage, willows, and a few others. Beautiful.
Arctic Cliffs. No shortage of dramatic scenery. I walked to these on Sunday.
Arctic Night. This was taken at 2 a.m. last night. The sun won't set until August 6.
Arctic Morning. After the night, morning.
Arctic Vista. Photographs can't begin to capture how beautiful it is here. But apparently, that doesn't stop me from trying.
Arctic Transport. These, and ATVs. There are huge puddles on the ice now, and open water on the edges. I'm told it's safe for another two weeks, until it "turns dark". I went out onto the ice, and it took a while to get comfortable skipping over puddles. They are very deep! But I saw the children tear around, and I wanted to do it too.
Arctic Scree Slope. I climbed down this one, believe it or not. I also forgot to compress the file. Sorry 'bout that.
Arctic Mountains. Another uncompressed file. I'll fix once I have better internet access. At home!
Arctic Food Prices. On no level is being here cheap. Not to get here, not to stay here, not to eat here. But so worth it. So very worth it.
This environment is pushing my boundaries, in terms of camera use. I'm now trying to underexpose all of my pictures, because so much of the detail bleeds out of them at normal metered exposure. It seems I'm missing so many of the delicate colours, too. Never in my life have I been as frustrated by how little the pictures capture what I see and the way it makes me feel.
I could talk on about this place for hours, and those of you getting me emails hear me do so. I'm not entirely comfortable with it on-line yet - I'm talking to people, and it's one of the most fascinating things I've done with my life. But it's research for work, and sensitive until I've processed it and disseminated it through the appropriate channels.
This is one of the most rewarding experiences of my life to date.
Posted by Johanna at June 29, 2004 12:12 PM