There are some places on earth where the landscape seems too vast to photograph, where the horizon is broken only by mountains, sea ice and the occasional dark shape of an animal moving across the white. For Piet van den Bemd , Svalbard is one of those places, and yet, after years spent travelling through the High Arctic, it’s this vastness that keeps bringing him back.

Van den Bemd is an expedition leader and professional wildlife photographer, whose work has appeared in nature documentaries, newspapers and scientific publications. Regularly working as a photography guide for Secret Atlas , they describe his approach to photography as a combination of technical expertise, curiosity and a willingness to embrace the unknown.

But his relationship with the Arctic began long before photography became his profession. “I think the inspiration has always been there,” he says. He grew up travelling with his parents, while his father worked as a professional photographer. “Photography and exploring nature were part of my life from a very young age.”

The decisive moment came much later though, during an internship with a whale-watching company in Northern Norway. His job included photographing whale tails to identify individual animals and monitor their movements. Occasionally, one of his images would catch people’s attention. “Eventually I sold my first image,” he recalls. “That was when I started to realize that I could combine my passion for wildlife, photography and travelling into something more than just a hobby.” That combination has since become, in his words, “a total way of life.”

Van den Bemd’s fascination with the far north began when he was about six, on a trip to Swedish Lapland with his father. He remembers “the cold, the snow, the Northern Lights and those enormous, open landscapes.” Living for years in Northern Norway deepened that connection, particularly the Arctic's extraordinary seasons: the winter darkness and the seemingly endless light of summer.

Svalbard, however, had a particular pull. “I always knew that further north was this incredible island called Svalbard. It kept drawing me in.” In 2021, he began working there as a guide, and since then he’s experienced the archipelago in radically different ways: from snowmobile journeys through the spring, to summer expeditions by ship. That variety is part of the attraction. “It constantly offers you a completely different world to discover,” he says.

The Arctic is also a world in flux, and van den Bemd is careful not to present personal observations as scientific conclusions. Yet some changes are difficult to miss. “Glaciers are retreating, winters are becoming shorter, and the period of snow and ice is changing,” he says. “We also seem to experience increasingly unusual and sometimes quite extreme weather conditions.” Perhaps most striking, he says, is the speed of the transformation: “Places that looked completely different a few years ago can now be noticeably altered.”

For a photographer, however, the Arctic is never simply a story about environmental change. It’s a place of extraordinary encounters, and the polar bear remains his favorite subject. “Both polar bears and orcas are top predators, strong, intelligent and incredibly adaptable,” he says. “They’ve evolved to survive in some of the most extreme environments on our planet.”

Spend enough time watching an individual animal, he says, and “You start to see its character… you’re not just documenting a species anymore, you’re getting to know a particular animal, its behavior and its personality.” One encounter brought that reality into sharp focus: a polar bear hunting a sub-adult walrus in the water. The struggle lasted almost two hours. “It was probably the most raw and intense wildlife experience I have ever witnessed,” van den Bemd says. “There was nothing staged or predictable about it, simply two powerful animals in a fight for survival.”

Yet, some of his most meaningful photographs are quieter. He remembers watching a mother polar bear with a cub only a few months old on the frozen ocean. The tiny animal played and explored, apparently encountering humans for perhaps the first time. “It was fascinating to watch,” he says. “There was something incredibly pure and balanced about that moment; the mother, the cub, the frozen ocean and this natural curiosity between us.”

Such moments require patience, something van den Bemd admits does not come naturally to him. “In my everyday life I have very little patience,” he says. “I am often rushing around, wanting to do more and more. But as soon as I am out photographing wildlife, something changes.”

During the pandemic, he spent days alone in small hides in eastern Finland photographing bears and wolves. The experience taught him something that now informs his Arctic work: “Patience is not really about waiting for something to happen. It is about being comfortable with the waiting itself.” And then, sometimes, nature delivers. The challenge is accepting that it may not. Van den Bemd often imagines an image long before he presses the shutter. But “nature does what nature does.” Wildlife moves unexpectedly. Light changes. A fleeting opportunity disappears. “You cannot control nature, so you have to be flexible, react quickly and be creative with whatever you have in front of you.”

Indeed, some of his favorite photographs are the ones he never managed to take. “They are still out there somewhere,” he says. “Perhaps that is what keeps me going, knowing that the next opportunity could be the one you have been waiting for.”

That sense of possibility runs through his photography. For van den Bemd, the ultimate purpose goes beyond producing spectacular pictures. He wants viewers to connect with the animals and landscapes he encounters, and through that connection, to care about what happens to them. “I believe awareness is where change begins,” he says. “If people can connect with a polar bear, a landscape or a moment through one of my photographs, perhaps they will become a little more curious, a little more aware of the world around them and ultimately more motivated to protect it.”

Piet Van den Bemd doesn’t want photography to dictate what people should think. “For me, photography is not about telling people what to think or feel,” he says, “It’s about showing them something worth caring about.”

Making Polar Travel Easier

That same understanding of the polar world lies behind Arctos , a new independent polar travel consultancy founded by van den Bemd and a handful of other highly experienced guides who’ve spent years living and working in Svalbard and other polar regions.

Choosing a polar expedition can be surprisingly complicated. There are dozens of ships, operators and itineraries, from small, adventurous expedition vessels to larger ships offering comfort and luxury. The right trip, depends entirely on the traveler. Arctos was created to make choosing easier and more transparent.

Drawing on their experience and relationships with polar operators, the team matches travelers with the right ship, itinerary and style of experience, from intimate, adventurous expeditions to wildlife and photography-focused journeys. Their advice is free, with commission agreements allowing them to remain independent with their recommendations.

For van den Bemd, this philosophy fits naturally with his own approach to exploration: understand the environment, remain open to what it offers and make the most of the opportunity in front of you. Ultimately, that is what he wants his photography to do.

For more of Svalbard travel and Piet van den Bemd’s photography read my article 10 Days At The Edge Of The Earth .