The red sails

The red sails
Disko Bay, Greenland, 2017

This photo won a second place prize in the Fine Art Photography Awards 2018.

The Ilulissat Icefjord, on the west coast of Greenland, covers an area of 4,000 square kilometres of drifting icebergs that stem from one of the world’s most productive glaciers, only surpassed by Antarctica. I joined a group of photographers to capture this UNESCO World Heritage site late July, when the sun never sets at this latitude (250 km north of the Arctic Circle). Soft light lingers throughout the night, casting the icebergs of Ilulissat in shades of orange, red and purple.

I took this shot from the bow of our boat, when another boat (that joined us on our journey) passed a beautiful iceberg. Timing was of the essence here, because both boats were moving. I made sure I already had a mental picture in my mind, and then I clicked when every element came together for a second: the iceberg, the boat, the light, the reflection.