Along a rugged shoreline in Svalbard in early June, we discovered a massive number, likely millions, of skeletal whale remains had been pushed onto the 5 km long beach by the ice, waves and storms of the just past winter. It was a hauntingly silent graveyard along the entire length of the waterline, almost 10 feet wide in places, a natural memorial to the whales almost hunted to extinction in the past. Mother Nature had arranged the skulls in my image which to me look like jesters, the whales making a comeback despite mankind and having the last laugh. The man made structures there, long ago abandoned, were now just decaying ruins. Our expedition was the first in the area that year, so no human had rearranged those bones prior to our arrival.

black and white Photograph on Slickrock metallic paper, 8X10 image matted/framed to 12.5 X 16