Finally! My wildlife adventures near Ittoqqortoormiit in Scoresbysund

I'm thinking of organizing Greenland wildlife and / or indigenous life ways photography trips in the future.

Back story: I have been going to Greenland for nearly ten years and this was my 10th trip. In all the travels to every corner of the vast country, I had never been in the right place at the right time to see a bear, let alone have my equipment ready to capture some images. This polar bear was seen at the end of April 2025.

I normally shoot icebergs and landscapes, hence the username. I only spend time in remote parts of Greenland like this area, Ittoqqortoormiit or Scoresbysund. It's the world's largest fjord system and the only place in Greenland where the 350 residents of the town routinely coexist with bears. They also have to survive on the harvest of a small quota of bears every year. Full disclosure. But after the quota is reached, the bears are everywhere. This was such an occasion last month. We saw three bears this day. A lone one and two younger ones near each other - likely 2-year-olds that just left their mother.

The luggage limit is so low that I did not bring my good equipment with me. I have never gotten any passable wildlife in the 20 years I've been a photographer. Just a beat up Fujifilm X-T3 (that was stolen in Iceland later - long story) and the 70-300 with a broken 2x teleconverter (also stolen). It's the only camera I have without a grip so it definitely kept the weight down. I did not plan to shoot wildlife at all this trip because our focus was dogsledding and experiencing traditions. All of my batteries had died because the cold weather was so brutal. My rear lens cap would also not come off until we had to use a tool to pop it off. I was so nervous that the batteries would fail but somehow the stars aligned and I was able to spray and pray to get some of these.

I had inspiration from the most well known wildlife photographer in Greenland. His book was on the coffee table so I showed my guide the kind of images I wanted to capture. I did not know that wildlife photography involved having the image in mind from the outset. I waited patiently while the bear swam and turned off my camera to preserve the battery. But when it started to climb out, I was ready and it was the most fulfilling day in my photographic career in a long time.