The great blue-white North

It’s a cold time of year to be in the high arctic… nevertheless an enjoyable experience to get into the remote North. The last three days have been a frozen blur—a quick sortie to art direct photography with Ian McCausland (can’t wait to see his shots!) for our mutual client, The North West Company. We left Winnipeg early Thursday, stopped in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan for a few hours, refueled in Yellowknife, then on to Inuvik in the Northwest Territiories. Besides photographing in the NorthMart store there on Friday, we got out on the ice road to Tuktoyaktuk. Then, back eastward with a fuel stop in Kuglugtuk (Coppermine) and an attempted landing in Arviat—but as the runway lights didn’t work, it was on to Churchill, Manitoba for the night (with all food services closed by the time we landed we settled for brews with the local revelers). Up early yesterday, back up to Arviat (with photography in the Northern store there), and a bone-chilling session out on the land with champion musher Michael (who assured us he was “sweating” in his traditional seal-skin parka, caribou leggings, and wolf-skin mittens). Then back down to Winnipeg to spend a comfortably warm Valentine’s Day evening with the lovely Evelin…

Images: Ian on the winter road to Tuk; the (ice) road beneath our feet; refuelling the Conquest in Kuglugtuk; with the sled-dogs in Arviat’s -40 degree windchill; Nunavut’s iconic license plate.