Left out in the cold
"Sometimes you can over-expect with a shoot,
especially if your subject is nature", says Torben Forsberg. Every
professional photographer knows this to be self-evident: shoots
don't always follow the script.
And award-winning Danish-born filmmaker Torben
Forsberg acknowledges this is especially true if you happen to be
on board a schooner in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, hemmed in by
an ominous threat of boat-crushing icebergs.
Torben, a committed photo-explorer with five similar
expeditions under his belt - including a 3,000 km trek around the
north of Greenland on skis and dog sleds in temperatures of minus
47 degrees - set sail on the majestic three masted topsail
schooner, Activ three months ago as photographer and
filmmaker on The Northeast Greenland Expedition
2011.
The vessel was packed with scientists and artists,
all aspiring to do things that had not been done before, as part of
the project's mission 'to better understand the origins of
life'.
Speaking to Hasselblad Bulletin on his
return to dry land Torben recalled: "It was a great trip in very
many respects but as far as my own photo-mission was concerned
things didn't really go to plan. We had long delays in Iceland
thanks to the iceberg threats. When we finally got our window of
ice-free opportunity we took it. But we didn't get the weather we
expected and a lot of time was thus wasted in
delays.
I had dreamt of capturing some great images with the
stunning H4D-40, including polar bears close-up. We know that
sometimes bears will shuffle up to boats - but on our trip we only
saw them at a distance."
And not even a Hasselblad H4D-40 could really swing
things the photographer's way. "Sometimes you can over-expect with
a shoot, especially if your subject is nature", he
said.
He added: "But I just love what this camera can do
and although I did get a few good shots I am afraid the
circumstances of the trip meant I couldn't really exploit the
Hasselblad magic I was carrying. I did manage to clamber up the
mast to grab a few shots but when the prolonged heavy winds came I
had no choice but to keep the camera safe inside. I didn't have
waterproof covers and I certainly didn't want to get salt water
splashed on it. But I am not giving up...I am hoping to get another
chance on a new expedition, hopefully in the
spring."
However, it turned out that Torben's arctic adventure did
have one big highlight. Just two days after leaving Greenland he
flew into New York where he won the 'Best Cinematography' award at
The New York International Film Festival.