ENTRY DESCRIPTION
We engaged on a skiing expedition, traversing and camping on the tops of the immense glaciers for a few days on Spitsbergen - Svalbard, in the high Arctic.

In the frame, three students from the Outdoor Nature Guide School, who led this incredible expedition by blending great skills, knowledge, and fun.

Not only the landscape was amazing, but I learned amazing skills and so much more about these giants of ice. The range of skills of the students is really wide, and it was truly an experience to learn on the terrain; guaranteeing safety on the glacier before putting up a camp, probing for eventual crevasses, positioning the camp wisely, planning polar bear guard schedules, orientating tents within the campsite, building up the tent and managing self space, placement of toilets, and much more.

Capturing this kind of moment is unique but quite hard also. We are in polar bear land here, we cannot stay behind, alone, waiting for hours to grab the right light for a single shot. We stick to the group to assure safety, and it can be quite hard for someone like me who is used to patience.

AUTHOR
Virgil is from a small French town between Lyon and the Swiss border.

In June 2011, with nothing more than a bag on his back, Virgil set out to explore the world and discover his passion for the great outdoors and photography. As the years went on, Virgil used this time to build a global network of connections, which led to him becoming a full-time outdoor guide in 2016. Through the years, he was slowly heading North, where he spent two seasons in Finnish Lapland as a snowmobile guide in the Arctic; it was here, in the cold and dark of the Polar Night, that Virgil first gazed upon the Northern lights.

Virgil concentrates mainly on Arctic Landscape and Night Photography. It allows him to express his inner self and invite others to share in the spectacular and unyielding power of mother nature.

''Patience and creativity are all you need.''

Virgil is self-taught and believes in self-guided learning along with mutual knowledge sharing. His unending passion for photography and the outdoors pushes him to improve constantly, making photography part of his everyday life.
NorthernLights are a unique feature of his photography style and lead him to build robust and constructive compositions around them.

"A great aurora image is a great image even without aurora."

The photos you find in his gallery are the result of thousands of hours outside in snowstorms, strong winds, extreme temperatures, and a tremendous amount of time spent waiting on nature for that precise, extraordinary moment. Really often, the aurora is the wow effect of the photograph, the icing on the cake.
Virgil is always oriented on understanding his surroundings, finding the best angles for his compositions, and finding the right orientation to sublime the light in relation to his chosen subjects.

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