Greenland Grandeur: Ice, Water and Northern Lights

Earlier this year, I was fortunate to spend an entire month in Greenland, a place that feels like my second home. This trip, which marked my 6th visit to the island country known as Kalaallit Nunaat in Greenlandic and Grønland in Danish, involved leading two OFFBEAT photography workshops in familiar locations and working on a tourism photography project at a destination that was new to me. Despite revisiting several places, natural wonders such as ice, water, and northern lights made each experience unique. 

I arrived in Ilulissat for the first edition of the Greenland Grandeur workshop alongside fellow trip leaders Curtis Jones and Stephen DesRoches. We had each made numerous trips there and all agreed that we had never seen so much ice there before. Considering the recent launch of my Cryophilia project, which revolves around documenting disappearing glaciers and ice, I was excited for the photo possibilities. I was also thrilled for the participants who arrived a few days after we did. 

During the first half of the workshop, we focused our attention on the sea ice in the fjords of Ilulissat and were treated to an incredible aurora display. We then took a ferry to Disko Island, where we photographed black sand beaches and Kuannit, my favourite stretch of coastline in the world. Foul weather sent us back to Ilulissat early, but the consolation prize was documenting more incredible ice formations around Ilulissat.

Gargantuan ice formations off the coast of Greenland.

The second workshop brought lots of familiar faces to Greenland. Participants were treated to an incredible aurora display upon arrival, before the workshop had officially started. With a wide spectrum of colours filling the sky, it was possibly the best aurora display of the entire month. The workshop program mirrored the first and it mostly went according to plan; the only curveball was that during our stay on Disko Island, Greenland got the biggest rain event it’s seen in over 40 years. 

We may have been damp but we kept our spirits high and continued getting out regardless of the downpour. When the weather does unexpected things, it also leads to unexpected photo ops. We witnessed some beautiful things including the area’s waterfalls flowing at ten times the volume and unusual chocolate-coloured water flowing onto the beach and into the iceberg-laden sea. We made the most of it before heading back to Ilulissat to wrap up the program.

A rare combination: chocolate-coloured waves and a black sand beach.

Curtis, Stephen and I stayed on for a few extra days. We called this period “play time” but we are actually heading to Maniitsoq in western Greenland on an assignment for Destination Arctic Circle and Visit Greenland. We were thrilled to explore a place that none of us had seen before, especially since the few photos of Maniitsoq we could find were oozing with potential. Although harsh weather caused travel delays that cut our play time in half, we decided to head to Maniitsoq anyway. We were greeted by Ole from Maniitsoq Adventure Tours who sailed us to Inussuit Tasersuat, a narrow lake flanked by steep mountain ranges known as “The Great Lake of Giants”.

The instant we laid eyes on Inussuit Tasersuat, we unanimously agreed it was one of the most beautiful places we had ever seen. I was so blown away by the possibilities, I didn’t know where to start.  It was one of the most epic places I’d ever seen and I wanted to do it justice by conveying that ‘wow factor’. We got to work right away and shot the lake from a variety of angles in diverse conditions. We shot it by day and night, from land and underwater, with a drone and even from kayaks provided by Ole. We even witnessed the aurora shimmering high above the landscape, but for me, the highlight was doing a full traverse of the lake in a kayak on a calm morning surrounded by towering peaks, glaciers, and their reflections. Inussuit Tasersuat is one of the most naturally beautiful places I’ve ever come across and I hope I’ll be lucky enough to return there one day. 

Inussuit Tasersuat, also known as “The Great Lake of Giants”.

Both workshops and our playtime unfolded in phenomenal landscapes. Photographs allow me to share the majesty of these scenes, but they don’t convey the meaningful conversations we shared with the locals we encountered. Considering that three quarters of Greenland is covered by the only permanent ice sheet that exists outside Antarctica, I asked locals like Ole and our boat drivers about the changes to the ice that they’ve witnessed in their lifetimes. They all told us that the glaciers are receding at an alarming and unprecedented rate. Hearing this underscored what a privilege it is to be able to see and document that ice before it disappears. I hope you enjoy these images, but most of all, I hope they spark your curiosity about our planet’s vanishing ice. 

Behind the Image: The "What If" Time

Perhaps the two rules you hear the most in landscape photography are “the rule of thirds” and “the importance of moving your feet.” The first one I think gets way too much attention, but the latter cannot be emphasized enough.

This image is a prime example.

Kalsoy, Faroe Island. Photo by Paul Zizka.

I shot this in the Faroe Islands on Kalsoy (a particularly epic corner of the archipelago). My OFFBEAT colleague Dave Brosha and I spent a considerable amount of time there, starting off with the compositions that were obvious to us immediately upon arrival. It's a phenomenal place, quite overwhelming, and we were engrossed for a while. And I think we both created a few solid images. But, for me, the real magic happened at the tail end of our visit there, during what I call the "what if" time.

That "what if" time is often when I create my best images. At that point, I (hopefully) have at least one more "traditional" image I'm happy with and I start to operate with more freedom, with a more open mind, more experimentally. And, usually, that means covering some ground. I try to always make time to walk, scramble and downclimb so I can get a different perspective on the place. Often it leads to nothing (but, hey, I get some exercise out of it and it satisfies my curiosity). But occasionally it'll open a photo op that completely takes me by surprise. It's often hard to predict how elements will line up once you've changed your point of view. You can guess but you never really know for sure until you've put in the work.

That day, it paid off. I left before Dave and wandered over to a nearby exposed ridge. When I turned back towards the area where we had been shooting for a couple of hours, a phenomenal scene took shape. A dip in the ridge aligned perfectly with some of the world's highest sea cliffs. Birds were swirling around and waves were crashing hard. There was even a high waterfall and some sea stacks to appreciate in the background. It became obvious that by compressing all that with a telephoto lens, and adding the human element, there was a strong image to be made. I ran back to where Dave was to get the 100-400 lens, had a chat with Dave, and then returned to my perch.

Dave walked the ridge a few times and in one of the shots everything ended up where it needed to be. The birds had good positioning and Dave had a stance that looked natural. I could have gone with a static pose but more and more I find dynamic modelling looks less forced.

I hope that encourages some of you to allow that extra five-minute period of exploration and exercise when you head out on your next photo excursion!

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OFFBEAT is heading back to the Faroe Island for an unforgettable photography workshop, October 4-9, 2021! Find information and registration details here.