Becky Kagan Schott: Master of Underwater Photography

Destination Svalbard

Perhaps best known for her innovative images of deep wrecks and caves, Becky Kagan Schott has eclectic interests along with the technical diving skills and photographic expertise to bring home the story. Her portfolio is full of diver-friendly destinations such as Florida’s springs and the Galápagos Islands.

Recent pursuits have taken her to both tips of the Earth, demonstrating her passion for Antarctica and the Arctic. Ice diving evolved as an extension of Schott’s embrace of extreme underwater environments. She found it humbling due to the extreme cold as well as the limited bottom time and compromised dexterity.

At the southern polar region, Antarctica offers clear waters and iconic subjects, such as the emperor penguin, one of the 18 resident penguin species. The continent also has six seal species, including the dramatic leopard seal as well as Ross, Weddell, crabeater, southern elephant, and Antarctic fur seals. Antarctic krill is at the base of the food chain, and the orca is at the pinnacle.

With the exception of orcas and blue whales, the Arctic offers different wildlife. Terrestrial predators include polar bears, Arctic foxes, and wolves; other land mammals include caribou, musk oxen, Arctic hares, and lemmings. Birds such as puffins and snowy owls compete for attention with marine life, which includes walruses, seals, and whales. Some areas in the Arctic have narwhals and belugas.

Schott has led photo tours to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard for several seasons, typically with 12 passengers aboard small expedition ships. Light and photographic subjects are indifferent to the stringent schedules of large cruise ships. As a tour leader responsible for a small group, she has more control over the best photo opportunities and how much time to invest.

The other significant advantage of the smaller ship is its lower profile, which provides a more interesting perspective and is less intimidating to wildlife. Most of Schott’s best shots of polar bears, for example, have been when curious bears approached the ship rather than when cruising in an inflatable boat and hoping for proximity to the them.

Spotting an Atlantic puffin flying by a glacier is a treat for any wildlife enthusiast. These charismatic seabirds with striking rainbow beaks nest along cliffs and dive underwater to catch fish. Svalbard is also home to a variety of seabird species, including Brunnich’s guillemots, ivory gulls, long-tailed skua, and dozens of other species.

Blue whale feeding. — The sun doesn’t set in the summer months, so the beautiful light of golden hour can last for several hours. Experiencing the midnight sun while watching a blue whale feed was powerful. As the largest animal on Earth, these giants migrate to the nutrient-rich polar waters to feast on krill, with their massive tails fluking as they dive, surrounded by feeding kittiwakes.

What is so special about Svalbard that keeps you returning?

Svalbard is one of the world’s premier destinations for nature photography. The Arctic features dynamic pack ice and marine mammals such as polar bears, seals, and walruses. I experience something magical on every trip.

I enjoy going there during different seasons. In the summer we get the midnight sun, allowing for 24 hours of daylight and endless photo opportunities, and then later in the season we get the Northern Lights. I’ve seen belugas by the glaciers and dozens of white-beaked dolphins feeding. I always return with a new image in mind or a behavior I would love to see, but the unexpected moments are usually the most memorable.

Svalbard features glaciers, flowering tundra, pack ice, and mountains in the background. The megafauna is the real attraction, especially the king of the Arctic: the polar bear. I’ve concentrated on walrus colonies as well, but other common sightings include Arctic foxes, reindeer, and harbor and bearded seals. We’ve been lucky enough to see orcas, fin whales, and blue whales on previous trips.

The walrus population in Svalbard has been strongly increasing since the 1952 hunting ban was enacted. One morning we witnessed hundreds of walruses in the icy water around us. They curiously approached the Zodiacs, spy-hopping and pushing each other out of the way like rambunctious teenagers. They are highly social animals and rely on each other in and out of the water. Only a few hundred of them remained at one point, so seeing a few hundred in one location is a success story.

A walrus. — There’s nothing quite like the intense gaze of a walrus. The long whiskers, called vibrissae, are highly sensitive and move individually. They are adapted for detecting bivalves on the seafloor. Capturing unique underwater images of these charismatic walruses on my polar expeditions has provided valuable insight into their hidden life beneath the surface.

Traveling to Antarctica involves a long, open-ocean crossing and sometimes extreme sea conditions.
How do you get to Svalbard?

One of the advantages of the Svalbard expedition is avoiding the often tumultuous two-day Drake Passage crossing. The archipelago is very accessible, at least where you board your expedition ship. Most travelers fly into Oslo or Tromsø, Norway, and then catch a connecting flight to Longyearbyen.

I encourage our guests to arrive early, not only to allow for any misplaced baggage to catch up and to acclimate to jet lag, but also because Longyearbyen is interesting. It’s relatively small with only about 2,500 residents, but it has enough hotels and restaurants for comfort, and attractions like the Svalbard Museum give you a sense of the local color. We sometimes see Arctic foxes and reindeer around town. It is a good place to shop for expedition-specific gear that can harder to source.

Arctic foxes. — Arctic foxes have a light brown summer coat to blend in with their surroundings, but in winter they turn white to blend in with the snowy landscape. They are small but hardy survivors, and they have one of the warmest coats in the animal kingdom, allowing them to thrive in temperatures that would freeze most other mammals.

A polar bear. — Sometimes we see a polar bear on our first day, and sometimes it takes more time. After a few days in the ice, we saw only a few of them, all from a distance, but this bear was curious. It wandered to the ice edge and peered into the water. I was on the ship’s bow, which is low to the water, but I was still shooting downward. I usually like to be at eye level, but it worked out well in this case, and I could capture the bear’s reflection. It is a privilege to be in the company of these animals and to be able to bring back powerful images and stories about them.

Where do you go to optimize your photo opportunities?

I charter smaller ships with ice-classed hulls and crews that have considerable experience with photo groups. We travel around Spitsbergen Island and into the pack ice to search for polar bears. We have no set itinerary or schedule beyond that.

The conditions and wildlife dictate the cruise. The pack ice can vary to the north or south each year, but that is our destination, wherever it happens to be. The guides are skilled at getting close to the animals without disturbing them. Sometimes we turn off the engines to let the ship drift with the pack ice.

One time I was out on the deck when, from a mile away, we spotted a polar bear that seemed very interested in our ship. She jumped over the ice, edging ever closer, and finally getting so close that I could hear her breathing. I just stopped and soaked it all in for an hour, during which I got the most incredible images without ever leaving the starboard rail.

We don’t spend all our days on the mother ship. We frequently don our ship-provided float suits and floatation devices and board Zodiacs, sometimes spending hours out on the water. The guides have extensive experience in locating wildlife and are skilled naturalists, so we learn about the behaviors we observe.

So much about the Arctic is visual, but there is an auditory component as well: the soft rhythm of a polar bear breathing, the clang of ivory tusks as walruses spar, and the sounds of a bear snacking on a seal.

Harbor seals pose gracefully on their own rock islands in protective shallow coves. They are constantly looking for threats such as polar bears, because seals are a main source of the bears’ diet.

Do you bring your dive gear and underwater housing with you?

I haven’t brought dive gear lately, but warm clothing, waterproof boots, and gloves are a must. I bring my housing, but I use it more as a pole camera, setting it on a long pole that I can settle into the water and trigger remotely. I also use it for split images (over/unders) rather than traditional underwater photos.

I don’t travel lightly. What I give up in underwater paraphernalia, I make up for in long lenses for topside shooting.

A 600mm telephoto lens is almost mandatory. My Nikkor Z 180–600mm lens offers five stops of image stabilization on my Nikon Z8 camera, which is helpful for handheld shots from the Zodiac. The ample zoom range lets me capture a variety of compositions of the same animal from the same place. I also travel with 100–400mm and 28–70mm zoom lenses.

Glaciers — We see thousands of glaciers as we sail through the icy fjords. Nothing captures the raw power of the Arctic like witnessing a glacier calving or seeing one that is hundreds of feet high with waterfalls flowing from it. They are constantly reshaping, which is why we approach with caution. These frozen giants are breathtaking backdrops for wildlife and Arctic landscape photography.

Svalbard seems like a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

It more often turns out to be more than once in your life — at least it has been for me. The encounters are so special and unpredictable. Each day is different from the last, whether for the wildlife, the light, or sometimes just the company.

Jelajahi Lebih Lanjut

See more of Becky Kagan Schott’s work in the Arctic in these videos.