PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE FAR NORTH 



By RUDOLF KERSTING 



•KAMIUT is the most properly named place on 

 earth, " a place without shelter," and still we had 

 pitched our camp on this place, for want of a 

 better one. I was detailed to go to the interior 

 of Greenland with several prominent professors 

 of geology, myself to do photographing, while 

 these scientific men would examine the ice and 

 land formations. Rowing twenty miles toward 

 Ikamiut, not a place was visible along the precipi- 

 tately rising walls of basaltic rock bordering the 

 fiords, where a landing could be made. Eskimo guides 

 in their skin kayaks, darting all about us, picked up dozens 

 of fine ducks which were shot along the route. Three or 

 four little stone houses covered with sod, and a population 

 of about eight Eskimo, constituted the settlement of Ika- 

 miut. I could not understand why people would live in 

 them, until I learned that it was a first class place for 

 catching codfish. These people caught codfish all summer, 

 and dried them for winter use. It was a filthy, ill-smelling 

 place; much fog and rain, bringing despair to a photog- 

 rapher. Everything was wet and at the same time it 

 was never dark enough to change photographic plates, even 

 in the middle of the night. 



Clear weather was promised for the next day and every- 

 thing was made ready for our expedition, the purpose of 

 which was to ascend a glacier at the head of the fiord. 

 My camera was of large size, and I had very compact plates 

 eight by ten inches. A military knapsack carrying nine 

 double plate holders, and a tripod was supported by straps 

 on each shoulder. These holders had to be reloaded, and 

 for that purpose no white light is permissible. Inside of 

 our tent, with dark blankets, we arranged a place where 



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