I’ve had a day focussed on tourism today, one way or another. It’s actually ‘low season’ at the moment, between the busy snow-scooter, skiing – filled March and April and the summer season proper, although there are still visitors about here and there. So, like the tourist operators and service providers, I have been gearing… Read More
Month: May 2014
30th May – Water above and below
Another week of extremely interesting conversations, but photography-wise, I’ve been lacking in inspiration on what to share. It has been grey, cloudy and mizzly these last few days. The mountain tops have dissappeared from view under cloud and I remember now this is very much like how it was when I arrived almost a year… Read More
28th May – Everything’s political
(For anyone not of the right age and taste in music to get the Skunk Anansie reference, this blog title needs screaming loudly and with passion!) As mentioned last week, Environmental Protection is a big talking point in Svalbard, as is the future of coal mining here. The ‘paradox’ between the two, is perhaps no… Read More
27th May- Feeling Twitchy
Out goes the snow, in come the birds! It seems more and more geese, ducks, gulls and other varieties arrive daily at the moment. I am not much of a bird watcher, but wildlife here seems especially interesting, partly because it is different from home, but also because although it is relatively sparse in comparison,… Read More
25th/ 26th May – Observed observers
For once, I didn’t take many pictures today! Photography is, as Mia Hunt points out in a recent paper on urban photogrpahy as a research method, a way of being in, and producing versions of place[1] . This has all kinds of benefits from being able to tell a story visually as well as, or… Read More
24th May – time for tourism
Takes one to know one, so they say. In that spirit we booked ourselves on a guided walk up a glacier and into an ice cave as an exploration into tourist mode and a bit of a day off. Of course it wasn’t, but it was heaps of fun in the sun! Along the way… Read More
23rd May – Sensing value?
Quite a bit of the week’s discussions have been around cultural heritage, how that is defined, protected and managed in Svalbard. Time with my trusty field assistant is running out, so we went on an excursion to go and experience some local cultural heritage…or did we? Gruve (mine) 5 was built from 1957 and extracted… Read More
22nd May – A little adventure
Thank you Aberystwyth Rifle and Pistol Club, today I was VERY glad that I had some practice with firing ‘big guns’ under my belt! We hired a rifle and escaped the confines of town a little way to go and see the Svalbard Global Seed Vault up close. Conveniently, this was on the way to… Read More
21st May – So what is Environmental Protection anyway?
Today I have been comtemplating this question quite a lot and had some very interesting discussions around it. I can say with some certainty and without causing too much uproar, that it can mean very different things to different institutions and individuals. From a surface glance, the tensions (or not) between the three ‘legs’ of… Read More
20th May – Changing states
It was only a few days ago I posted about ice and snow melting, but I’m going to do it again! It’s happening really quickly now, snow men there one day, gone the next. Channels of water appearing under, over and cutting through ice. The slabs of snow cleared at the side of the road… Read More
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