Pond, peaks, fiord, and glacier at sunrise, Scoresby Sund, Greenland
Claudia and I just got back from our trip to Greenland with Visionary Wild… and it was fantastic. This is such a beautiful part of the world, and we got to experience it with a wonderful group of people – our 16 lively and friendly participants, our fantastic ship’s crew, and my amazing co-instructors, Jerry Dodrill and Chris Linder.
Our Greenland expedition focused on Scoresby Sund, on the east coast. While the interior of Greenland is covered by the Greenland Ice Sheet, the second-largest body of ice on Earth (after the Antarctic Ice Sheet), Scoresby Sund is a land of sharp peaks and rocky fiords, with glaciers carving through the mountains and depositing icebergs into the sea. Scoresby Sund is considered the largest fiord system in the world, with many long, narrow channels, and mountains rising dramatically from the water to over 6,000 feet above sea level.
It’s a remote place. There’s a small village near the mouth of the fiord system, Ittoqqortoormiit, and an airstrip with a few buildings about 25 miles away (as the raven flies) at Constable Point. But the interior of the fiord system is uninhabited.
We flew on a private charter from Reykjavik, Iceland, to Constable Point, heading almost due north, and crossing the Arctic Circle along the way. Then we boarded our ship – a beautiful three-masted schooner, the Rembrandt van Rijn. We spent ten nights aboard the ship photographing mountains, glaciers, icebergs, tundra, wildlife, and the aurora borealis. We had a wonderful variety of weather, with rain, mist, fog, clouds, three clear nights for viewing the aurora, and several occasions when the sun broke through clouds and created some dramatic light. We also saw polar bears, musk oxen, Arctic foxes, and Arctic hares.
I’m still sorting through the thousands of photos I made during the trip – actually around 25,000 images! That’s a lot, but in many cases the situation demanded firing off dozens or even hundreds of frames to get one good one. That’s typical for wildlife photos, but on this trip we were frequently photographing from the moving ship or a zodiac, where the juxtapositions of foreground and background objects were constantly changing, or where, when handholding a long telephoto lens, it was prudent to squeeze off a burst to ensure that one of the frames was sharp.
Luckily my trip to Antarctica last January prepared me well for this kind of handheld photography from a moving platform. It was challenging, but very rewarding, because we were presented with constantly-changing views of amazing landscapes, and there were photographs everywhere we looked.
We also made a number of excursions onto land, with short hikes over the tundra. It was nice to stretch our legs, and connect with the landscape in a more direct and intimate way. We got close up views of the beautiful mosses and autumn foliage, and had memorable encounters with foxes and hares.
Here’s a small sampling of images to start with. In this selection I’ve tried to convey the character of the fiords, with its peaks, steep walls, glaciers, and channels filled with icebergs. But I’ll post more Greenland photos soon.
— Michael Frye
P.S. You can join Justin Black and me in another polar region this January – Antarctica! Antarctica is an amazing, otherworldly landscape. It’s like visiting another planet, though it’s actually here on Earth. And it has penguins! We’ll be in Antarctic waters for nearly two full weeks, and the only party aboard a small ship with incredible flexibility to seize opportunities as they arise and go where conditions are best. And new signups can now get $5,000 off. Use the code ANTARCTICA5K2026 at registration to get the discount (click the “Make Changes” button to see the field for the coupon code). Click here to learn more or sign up.
Grundtvigskirken at sunrise, Scoresby Sund, Greenland
Icebergs and clouds, Scoresby Sund, Greenland
Rembrandt van Rijn and mountains at sunrise, Scoresby Sund, Greenland
Peak and clouds, Scoresby Sund, Greenland
Iceberg in late-day light, Scoresby Sund, Greenland
Tundra, pond, and icebergs, Scoresby Sund, Greenland
Related Posts: Ice World; One Day in Antarctica
Michael Frye is a professional photographer specializing in landscapes and nature. He lives near Yosemite National Park in California, but travels extensively to photograph natural landscapes in the American West and throughout the world.
Michael uses light, weather, and design to make photographs that capture the mood of the landscape, and convey the beauty, power, and mystery of nature. His work has received numerous awards, including the North American Nature Photography Association’s 2023 award for Fine Art in Nature Photography. Michael’s photographs have appeared in publications around the world, and he’s the author and/or principal photographer of several books, including Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters, and The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite.
Michael loves to share his knowledge of photography through articles, books, workshops, online courses, and his blog. He’s taught over 200 workshops focused on landscape photography, night photography, digital image processing, and printing.
