Svalbard: Reflections at 79 Degrees North
- Maria Marriott
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
I laid down, arms spread wide. Beneath me, Arctic ice just shy of the 80th parallel.
The cold pressed through my flotation suit, the sky stretched endlessly above, and for a moment I felt suspended between worlds.
From the zodiac, we had been tracking a polar bear padding along the edge of a distant ice floe. When we pulled up onto shore for a short break, I stepped out, looked around, and instinctively lowered myself onto the ice. Closing my eyes, I became aware of something I have never felt: absolute stillness.
It was in that moment - virtually on top of the globe, six hundred miles from the North Pole — feeling only the gentle cold breeze, that a single thought rose above all others:
“This must be the quietest place on earth.”
Every other thought fell away and I simply breathed in the frigid air. The cold was sharp, invigorating, almost electric. I was fully alive, fully present, and completely at peace. It was as if Someone had pressed a finger to my lips and whispered, “Be still.”
THE ART OF STILLNESS AND PURE EXISTANCE
Svalbard has a way of stripping everything down to what is essential - Presence.
The Arctic landscape is stark and monochromatic — blacks of jagged mountain peaks breaking through blankets of snow, whites and silvers stretching to the horizon, and everywhere, the impossible blues of glaciers, water, and sky.
In that vastness, I caught a glimpse of what it means to truly be still. The stillness of pure, uncluttered existence.
In the raw, untouched landscape…
In the breath that briefly clouds the air before vanishing…
In the overwhelming silence that settles like fresh snow…
There is a kind of truth that feels ancient and humbling.
A LANDSCAPE THAT SHRINKS AND EXPANDS YOU
The Arctic landscape plays tricks on your senses. The sheer magnitude of the land, paired with the ethereal light, convinces you that you’ve stepped into a world where you are impossibly small within the drama of ice, sky, and time.
Although you see overpowering beauty all around you, photographing Svalbard is extremely humbling - it's incredibly difficult, beyond stressful, often frustrating, and then somehow, altogether, impossibly beautiful.
NOTE: All wild life images in this video were created using super telephoto lenses at Norway's legal distance of protected wild life - some cropped for better viewing.
After 7 days far from civilization, being challenged in every way possible, I was exhausted, stretched in every direction, overwhelmed, sore… and greatly inspired. The Arctic stirs something deeper in you: self-discoveries, a desire to reach higher, create more boldly, and live more fully.
A NEW BODY OF WORK
I’m still mentally processing the 10 days I spent in the Arctic Circle. Thousands of images and videos now sit on my hard drives — polar bears, glaciers, sweeping ice fields, and moments of quiet revelation.
Over the coming months, I’ll be distilling this body of work into a curated special series to share with you — images that will bring you with me into this extraordinary place, and into the emotions that make the Arctic unlike any place on earth.
If you’d like to follow along as the collection unfolds, you can join my Image Insiders or explore more about my work.
About Photographer Maria Marriott
Maria’s photography style incorporates striking compositions, intimate and minimalistic, along with the use of a primarily monochromatic color palette. Free of distractions, her work evokes strong emotions and tells compelling stories. Through her lens, she seeks to foster an appreciation for the untamed wilderness, believing that the most persuasive form of advocacy can come through art.
Although primarily a wild horse photographer, Maria strives to create images of different subjects, seeking to foster an appreciation for both people and nature.
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