Esther Horvath: Photographer of the Mosaic expedition reports on the time on the »Polarstern«

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Scientists in a storm on their floe: Even in the polar night there was enough to take photos

Photo: Esther Horvath

Hundreds of researchers from 70 institutes in 20 countries: the Mosaic expedition was a company of superlatives.

The researchers went to the Arctic Circle with the ship “Polarstern”, frozen the ship in the ice and thus researched the life cycle of the floes over a year.

In doing so, they have gained massive amounts of data on the ice melt at the North Pole and on climate changes.

The photographer Esther Horvath was there.

SPIEGEL:

Ms. Horvath, you were on the icebreaker Polarstern at the North Pole for three months.

The ship was frozen to an ice floe in order to set up numerous research stations there and to drift along with the floe.

As a photographer, you documented the adventure and received the World Press Photo Award for a photo of the expedition.

How do you take photos in the dark of the polar night?

Horvath:

That makes photography very demanding.

There is still enough to see: the research stations, for example, are lit, the ship too, and everyone has lights with them when they work.

The cold is much more problematic.

SPIEGEL:

Because you have to wrap up so warm that you can hardly move?

Horvath:

That too.

Last but not least, the cold is causing problems for the technology.

If I was outside for a long time on the expedition, it could happen that the mirror mechanism of the camera jammed.

That only dissolved again in the warmth of the ship.

SPIEGEL:

How well do the camera's batteries work in extremely freezing temperatures?

Most of us are familiar with cell phones that unexpectedly go off in winter.

Horvath:

I always had ten charged spare batteries with me, without it it doesn't work.

What is actually a problem: the switch.

On our ice floe it was often minus 35 degrees, in the wind it could be minus 55 degrees.

Changing the battery requires sharp fingers, you can't do that with the thick gloves I wore there.

SPIEGEL:

How did you manage it?

Horvath:

I always had to take two steps, and I was wearing thin gloves under the thick gloves.

In the first step I took off my thick gloves and took the discharged battery out of the camera.

Then I had to warm up my hands before I could insert the charged battery, again wearing only thin gloves.

Since the camera is made of metal, it gets insanely cold at these temperatures.

It was often so painful that it made you cry.

SPIEGEL:

Sounds very cumbersome too.

Horvath:

It is the same with many things when you are at the North Pole.

I was always surprised at how long activities take that are very easy at home: You have to protect yourself from the cold - get dressed, undressed.

Much more exhausting in the snow.

And because our clod changed every day, we always had to be careful where we stepped.

If you can't feel your hands anymore, it's gotten too cold and you have to warm up.

All of this takes time.

SPIEGEL:

How did you come to take part in the expedition?

Horvath:

I lived in the USA in 2015 and spent two weeks on a ship belonging to the American Coast Guard in the Arctic for an American magazine.

It quickly became clear to me that I wanted to work in this part of the world again.

A little later I met Karin Lochte, the then director of the Alfred Wegner Institute that carried out the Mosaic expedition.

Since 2016 I have accompanied several expeditions of the institute on a freelance basis.

And I've been working for the institute since 2018 and have been asked if I want to be part of it.

SPIEGEL:

Did the permanent position change your relationship with the scientists whose work you are documenting?

Horvath:

I don't think so.

I always behave in such a way that I quickly become part of the team.

What makes a difference, however, is the regular collaboration.

I have been visiting Station Nord every year since 2016, a military and research station in Greenland for measuring sea ice thickness in the Arctic Ocean.

You live very closely together, we are a small, permanent team.

That helps me a lot.

SPIEGEL:

How does that help?

"If you can't feel your hands anymore, it's gotten too cold"

Horvath:

I wanted to take a lot of photos of the everyday life of this extraordinary project.

Only those who know everyday life can document it, and that requires time together.

How long do you think it takes before a seasoned captain can be photographed while cutting his hair

(laughs)

!

If I were only on the ship for a day or two, it would never happen in my life.

SPIEGEL:

You are experienced in working in snow and ice.

Horvath:

Yes, I have already had various assignments in the USA in the Arctic Circle, for example I was with Greenpeace in the Antarctic for »Time Magazine«.

These experiences were also necessary for the Mosaic expedition.

SPIEGEL:

What changes with the experience?

Horvath:

When the situation is completely new to you, you are primarily concerned with technical problems.

And then it doesn't get that good photographically.

SPIEGEL:

With you every day for three months - how do you organize your work?

Do you have certain motives for a working day?

Horvath:

I knew I wanted to photograph polar bears.

However, you do not know when they will come.

Every scientific station should be documented, so I followed the agreements of the scientists.

That's why I took part in the daily meeting at 6:30 p.m. and created my shooting list.

You always have to remain flexible: a storm often overturned the plan, or an ice break off the floe.

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Award-winning: polar bears inspect a research station on the Mosaic expedition.

Horvath received the World Press Photo Award in the “Environment” category for the photo.

Photo: Esther Horvath

SPIEGEL:

How often have you been outside?

Horvath:

In my three and a half months on the ship, I might not have been outside for five days.

I didn't want to miss anything.

It's also great for photographers: there is a different backdrop every day.

SPIEGEL:

What was the daily routine like?

Horvath:

I was mostly outside from 9 a.m. to dinner, only interrupted by the lunch break around 12 p.m.

After the big meeting there were often several group meetings, some of which I accompanied.

From around 8 p.m. I photographed life on the ship.

I had to produce a podcast for public relations for the expedition once or twice a week.

Then I took care of the photos of the day: Sorting, editing, tagging, labeling.

Every day we sent a blog post in the evening, always with a photo.

And finally there were orders for international media, for example for articles in magazines.

SPIEGEL:

That doesn't sound like an eight-hour day.

Horvath: It's

crazy, isn't it?

When I came back I asked myself: How did I do it?

The days were extremely tight and exhausting, but also very exciting at the same time, which gave me a lot of energy.

SPIEGEL:

And?

How did you do it?

Horvath:

Difficult to explain.

The project is just such a big experience that it gave me the strength.

My biggest concern there was that I might miss something.

That is very driving.

SPIEGEL:

How close did you get to the polar bears?

Horvath:

Not so close that I was very scared.

SPIEGEL:

And what about the award-winning photo with the two polar bears?

Horvath:

The bears were about 20 to 30 meters away.

SPIEGEL:

For us, that would be within our own comfort zone!

Horvath:

Yes, but luckily I didn't experience that as close.

I was there on the ship.

SPIEGEL:

Were you afraid at some point?

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Horvath:

It was only after my stay at the Pole that I realized that I was always very careful there.

You have an unconscious basic fear that you will make a mistake that turns out to be dangerous: a misstep, a fall, a polar bear that you see too late.

When I got off the plane after the return trip, I suddenly realized that I no longer have to have this fear.

SPIEGEL:

How much space did you have to relax or to chat privately with the other explorers?

Horvath:

Not that much.

The others felt like me: They were very busy and often worked late into the night.

For these scientists, the expedition is the chance of a lifetime.

On the other hand, you experience a lot together because everyone lends a hand everywhere.

That welds together.

SPIEGEL:

Where are you currently traveling?

Horvath:

I'm on Heligoland to document the work of climate researchers.

I go out every day with a small cutter.

There is a time series, starting in 1962, for oceanographic measurements.

Every day is measured from this small ship.

The sea around Helgoland has become 1.9 degrees warmer in the last 54 years - about twice as much as global ocean warming.

We only understand something like climate change if scientists make long-term observations.

I find it impressive when people do this every day for fifty years.

SPIEGEL:

Photography, on the other hand, is a medium that emerges in a split second.

Horvath:

Technically: yes.

But I work rather slowly myself, I am not a daily reporter.

I make long-term documentaries and need time to delve deeply into a topic - but we're not talking about decades.

SPIEGEL:

With a little bit of a distance, what can you best compare the Mosaic expedition with?

Horvath:

We have always compared life there to the ISS space station.

It is also isolated, the surroundings are strange and dark.

On the ice floe I often had the feeling that it could just as easily be the surface of the moon.

On the other hand, if there is an emergency on the ISS, the astronauts can be home in a few hours.

For us it would have taken weeks.

Icon: The mirror