Found Light

Focusing on the approach, the craft, and the intent rather than just the destination, Found Light documents what it takes to capture light worth keeping, from expedition ice and city streets to wildlife encounters and remote coastlines.

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Behind the Frame: On a Mission
Craft Notes Greg Purnell Craft Notes Greg Purnell

Behind the Frame: On a Mission

On Petermann Island, Antarctica, I spent ten minutes waiting in front of a formation I knew could be a composition, without a subject to put in it. This is the story of the photograph that came out of that wait, and the edit decisions that finished what the shutter started.

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The Zodiac Dance: Shooting from a Moving Platform
Craft Notes Greg Purnell Craft Notes Greg Purnell

The Zodiac Dance: Shooting from a Moving Platform

The zodiac gets you closer than any ship deck ever could — to the ice, to the wildlife, to the water itself. It also makes nearly everything harder. This is how I thought through shooting from a moving platform across six days of zodiac sessions on the Antarctic Peninsula with Aurora Expeditions.

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Finding the Line: Geometry and the Trained Eye
Craft Notes Greg Purnell Craft Notes Greg Purnell

Finding the Line: Geometry and the Trained Eye

Geometry is always present. In a mosque in Abu Dhabi it announces itself; in a field of icebergs in East Greenland it waits to be found. This post traces that spectrum: six environments, decreasing levels of cooperation from the world, and what the eye learns when it has to do more of the work itself.

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The Cold Expedition Kit: Shooting in a Hostile Environment
Craft Notes Greg Purnell Craft Notes Greg Purnell

The Cold Expedition Kit: Shooting in a Hostile Environment

The kit that fails you in Antarctica will fail you in Svalbard. This is a first-person account of what I brought to the Antarctic Peninsula with Aurora Expeditions — what earned its place, what didn't, and the discipline required to keep everything working in cold, wet, hostile conditions. Canon R5s, RF glass, battery management in the cold, and a cleaning ritual I treated as seriously as any shoot.

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