Svalbard Exposed113

Norwegian photographers Roy Mangersnes and Ole Jorgen Liodden have both been travelling to Svalbard since 2003 and in March 2015 published a new book Svalbard Exposed celebrating its unique landscapes and wildlife. This Norwegian-administered archipelago is the northernmost permanent settlement in the world and also one of the most accessible places in the high arctic to see polar bears, walruses, blue whales and a host of nesting birds. Svalbard has its own subspecies of reindeer and of ptarmigan. In 2014 Roy and Ole Jorgen opened the world's northernmost photography gallery in Longyearbyen, the administrative centre of Svalbard, and they also lead regular photography trips to the region.

Svalbard lies between 74 and 81 degrees north and covers an area of 63,000 square kilometres. 65% of the archipelago consists of protected areas. The Norwegian name Svalbard means “cold shore”. The islands may have been discovered as early as the 12th century, but the first recorded exploration was by the Dutchman Willem Barentsz in 1596. Subsequently the islands we used as a whaling and hunting station by various European countries and since 1899 coal has been mined here. Svalbard became part of Norway in 1925 and the islands now have a population of just over 2000 people, most of whom depend on tourism, mining or research for their living.