As a creative, as an artist, we need an outlet to express ourselves.
The ocean for me is my environment,
which links my surfing, my wildlife, whether I'm on top of the water
or underneath the waves, and photography is just the extension of who I am.
I always had that free spirit gene, I always really wanted to see other cultures.
Being on the road, I felt transient.
I didn't have a purpose.
So photography for me gave me that purpose
and sort of gave me that tool and the way to express myself.
I like to extract beauty in the world and
working in remote locations enables me to do that.
Having access to some of these locations,
working on expedition vessels, working on the sea are all platforms
to get me closer to really what I love to shoot the most, which is wildlife.
When working in polar regions, there can be many challenges.
First of all, the temperature;
a recent shoot working with a penguin colony down on the sea ice,
it reached down to -30°C, -40°C.
Generally, I should have only spent three hours there getting the shots I needed,
but I was so immersed within this amazing experience that I
ended up spending 12 hours on the sea ice and actually was near to hypothermia.
And it's funny, as photographers,
what we do to get that shot, you know, we really do push those boundaries.
Using Canon and actually with the quiver I have, I haven't had any issues
with cameras freezing, with batteries dying too early.
I've been extremely proud, really, to have these as my working tools.
For me it's just keeping myself warm and pushing myself mentally.
One of the most challenging parts of my job
is working on the water, documenting bird cliffs in the high Arctic.
Using my intuition to anticipate the movements
of the birds when they fly out of their nests and you have that split second
to get that razor pin focus right on the eye.
As a wildlife photographer, it's important not to disturb wildlife.
Many photographers or filmers would choose to shoot long focus lenses.
I shoot on the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM prime.
For me, that's a good balance.
The focus is long enough,
but at the same time, it allows me to also capture some of the landscape.
Being able to handhold the EF 300mm prime
on a rib, on the ocean, and having an amazing IS,
gives me my shot.
Primes to me might not give me the flexibility to be able to reframe my shot,
but it focuses my eye.
With my photography and how I see,
I like to keep things simple.
I like to see the frame straight away
and then bring what I need into what I already can see through my viewfinder.
If it doesn't fit, then it's not my shot.
Working in pristine environments, untouched terrains, and exploring
the last frontiers, it's an opportunity to see the world before it changes.
It's a really humbling feeling
and having access to these
remote locations before they do change is something that we need to document.
Working in polar regions and working
in very remote regions of Alaska and Siberia, Russian Far East,
being very close to wildlife in these isolated areas,
I just feel humble. And being away
from society and seeing the circle of life where nature hasn't been exposed to our society,
it's given me a new-found love of shooting wildlife.
I feel very fortunate to be able to experience
what many would absolutely dream about
and to be able to capture that and bring those memories home is everything to me.