After a long break, I paid a short visit to the Svalbard archipelago to see what opportunities there are for me in terms of photographing polar bears. Even the journey via Frankfurt - Oslo - Tromso - Longyearbyen turned out to be quite funny, sometimes the gas station attendant was missing to refuel the plane, sometimes a bus driver to bring the passengers to the plane, but at least a little variety was provided. The "strange" stopover in Tromso, where even Norwegians need to get off, show their passport and then get back on the same plane, and the somewhat strange baggage handling, which is different between the way there and back (although exactly the same), make the journey something special.
Longyearbyen is usually not so crowded with guests in October (Corona causes exceptions here as well ...) and the temperatures are moderate, this is one of the reasons why I chose this month for a first little exploration. However, October is rather unsuitable for nature photography, because there is already very little light and as you can see it was mostly very cloudy.
For polar bears, of course, a lot of snow is desirable, because then the photos look the most impressive and the bear is shown in its element, for which one would rather choose the coldest winter months of January and February. In principle, there are two ways to take pictures of the bear here, one could set up a tent in a lonely bay or a lonely area and wait a few weeks there, or one could travel the coasts and bays by boat over a longer period of time. However, it should be noted that some safety precautions must be taken, because even if it happens extremely rarely, attacks by bears can happen and you should be prepared for this case (regulations of the local administration must be observed!).
