Hello from Longyearbyen, Norway

[Eirik Berger]

Hello all.
My name is Eirik Berger, I am 31 years old and come from Norway. I recently moved to Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen that is a group of islands located between the Norwegian mainland and the north pole.
I have been a LF photographer for 8-9 years, and I hope I will have time to do use my LF gear up here. The landscape is truly amazing. I have been using this forum for some time, even if I do not have many postings here. That will change I hope.

I mostly use my Toyo GII 4x5 kamera with 90, 135, 180, 210 and 360mm lenses. The last lens I also use on a Calumet C-1 (Black Beast) 8x10" camera. It is a big and heavy bastard, and veeeery fun to use. I also have a Mamiya 645 ProTL with several lenses that I use for action photography.

My traditional darkroom is sold (please forgive me), I still have a Jobo ATL 3000 to develop BW negatives and E6 films, but there my "analogue" way of life stops. I scan my films on a Screen DT-S1045ai drumscanner. I do not have equipment to print color images yet, and for BW-images I print on a Epson 7500 wit MIS Ultratone inks and Bowhaus RIP. This combination makes great BW prints for a reasonable price.

[Ole Tjugen]

- And Eirik is probably the northernmost LF photographer in the world. At least most of the year!

Good to hear from you - and watch out for polar bears!

[Eirik Berger]

Hey Ole.
Goo to hear from you as well. I will watch out for white fuzzy animals, I am told to carry a firearm when travelling outside town. As if I did not have enough to carry with me. I hope I dont need to use it.
You know, several photographers seeing the Toyo for the first time tells me that I have to photograph polar bears with it. "It will capture the texture of its fur in a nice way" -they says. It will not be with the 90mm lens, that is for sure.

One guy passing me one day thought the Calumet was some kind of self-shooting-trap ment for foxes. When I told him it was a camera he wondered where the LCD display were. It is not easy beeing a LF photographer.

[Capocheny]

Hi Eirik,

Greetings from Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada... nope, no polar bears running around here of late!

Welcome.

Cheers

[darr]

Hi Eirik,

Greetings from hot Miami!

Kind Regards,
Darr

[Barry F]

Hi Eirik,

Welcome to the forum - they're all a really friendly bunch here.

Barry

[Helen Bach]

Welcome from New York. I sailed to Longyearbyen and Ny-Ålesund from Bergen on the Statsraad Lehmkuhl back in '89. I loved the place and was sorry to leave. Are you involved with the mines?

Best wishes,
Helen

[Eirik Berger]

Helen.
That must have been a wonderful trip. Hopefully I will soon get a chance to see other places than Longyearbyen, preferably by boat. Or snowmobile in winter of course.
I am not involved in the mines, I just started to work in the local newspaper.

[Morten]

Hi Eirik!!

Sounds like a great place and job. Could Longyearbyen by a place for a LF gathering?? It surely are on my list of MUST visit places, and I have quite a few euro bonus air miles to burn, so why not? What is the friendliest time of the year?? Spring, summer, autumn?

Best regards
Morten

[Eirik Berger]

Hi Morten.
A LF Gathering up here sounds like a great idea. As I said in my first post i have a Jobo ATL 3000 machine that takes care of developing pretty much anything, which would be useful for a gathering since the closest lab is in 3-3500 km away (I knew it was a clever thing to bring it!!!). But I do not know if there are any traditional darkrooms left, I doubt it at least darkrooms with enlargers for LF. Maybe a digital post-film workflow will be OK? I have not joined the local photography club yet, but I will one of these days. They might have som useful info and inputs.

I think mid summer (july) would be a great time for a gathering. People have holiday and the climate is OK. The sun is above the horizon 24 hours a day, making it possible to photograph at all hours. Summer up here is short and most often between 6-12 deg C and cloudy/foggy. Of course the sun can appear here too, but dont count on it.

I have thought about doing several (Black/white) LF projects. On at the old coal mines that surrounds Longyearbyen and another from Pyramiden, an abbandoned russian settlement. Of course is landscape and nature photography an option.
There are many possible topics for a gathering.

Eirik