WildPhoto travel

Who We are

Vision and History

About WildPhoto Travel – Svalbard Photo Expeditions Since 2006

Our Vision

WildPhoto Travel is a family-owned company founded by Kirsti and Ole J Liodden, both with great interest in photography and wildlife. Since 2006, we've specialized in small-ship wildlife photography expeditions to Svalbard, Antarctica, and South Georgia. As a Svalbard-based company, we are committed to the standards of local responsible tourism, where we secure the local value of all money paid to our company.

We aim to be the leading international photo expedition company to polar regions. We focus on increased awareness of the wildlife and environments we visit, passion for the beauty of Mother Nature seen through the lens of a camera, and the value of travelling in small groups for low impact on wildlife and nature, and more space and attention for you as a photographer.

WildPhoto Travel bases our photo expedition operations around three main values:

We Explore

We are an expedition company! Without a fixed itinerary, we plan each expedition independently regarding weather, wind, sea ice, and the possibility of observing and photographing interesting wildlife and landscapes. Every expedition is different, and we are explorers.

We Inspire

We want to inspire you as a photographer to enjoy your photography in polar regions and learn more about the animals and environments we visit. We want to educate and motivate our guests to be ambassadors for the polar regions and share their stories and pictures with their friends and networks.

We Care

With experience and knowledge, we will always try to approach and leave animals in a non-stressful and respectful way, caring for their well-being and daily life. We believe the best way of protecting endangered wildlife and their fragile environment is to raise more awareness about the threats to their survival, but also possible solutions for better protection.

Join a WildPhoto Travel expedition to take part in our vision!

Our History

2006 - Starting our operations

Our first organized photo expedition to Svalbard was in June 2006, leading a group of 12 photographers on the expedition ship MS Origo. At that time, the company name was Naturfokus, founded by Ole J Liodden and Kirsti Liodden. The photo expedition in 2006 was successful and the next years we organized more photo expeditions to Svalbard.

2010 - Expanding to Africa and Galapagos

The demand for photo safaris and expeditions was growing and in 2010 Naturfokus started to organize photo safaris in Kenya and Rwanda. From 2011 we added Galapagos and the New Zealand sub-Antarctic to the list of destinations.

2012 - WildPhoto Travel

After a few years of running photo safaris and expeditions around the world, it was time to focus more on our specialty - photo expeditions to polar regions with expedition ships. In 2012 we changed our company name from Naturfokus to WildPhoto Travel, and Roy Mangersnes joined the company.

2014 - Photo Expedition Antarctica

In March 2014 we opened our WildPhoto Gallery in Longyearbyen, which was the most northerly gallery in the world at 78 degrees North. With this gallery, we could offer a meeting point for new and old guests, and visitors that just wanted to see some nice pictures from Svalbard. In November 2014 we organized our first full-charter "Photographers only" expedition to Antarctica on a 52-passenger expedition ship.

2015 - Photo Expedition South Georgia

In November 2015 we had our first full-chartered expedition to South Georgia on a 52-passenger expedition vessel. Since that time South Georgia has been - and still is - a very popular destination for our clients and partners.

2016 - First Winter Ship Expedition in Svalbard

In March 2016 WildPhoto was the first operator to organize a ship-based winter expedition to Svalbard. On 18 March 2016, we had a landing on Moffen Island (at 80 degrees North) photographing walrus in the snow drift, which most likely was the earliest landing on the island ever. These winter expeditions soon became very popular.

2018 / 2019 - East Greenland & Alaska

In 2018 we organized our first photo expedition to East Greenland (Scoresby Sound) with a 12-passenger ship. This was a success, especially for the great icebergs and landscapes. In 2019 we had a photo expedition to both Katmai and Kaktovik in Alaska, with clients photographing both Grizzly bears and Polar bears. By the end of 2019, WildPhoto (and Naturfokus) had grown slowly for 14 years, but soon the whole tourist business would be hit hard.

2020 - Pandemic challenges

On 14 March 2020 we were supposed to start our first winter photo expedition for the season, but Norway and Svalbard were closing down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This was a big disappointment for everyone, but after a few months, we were able to organize 6 photo expeditions in Svalbard in summer with strict Covid protocols. WildPhoto was the only company to run multiple photo expeditions in Svalbard in 2020.

2022 - Introducing MS Virgo

We were very happy to start our operations on our new expedition ship - MS Virgo - from April 2022. Our clients and partners immediately fell in love with MS Virgo, which became a ship that set a high standard for safe navigation and comfort. In November 2022 Roy Mangersnes decided to withdraw as a partner in WildPhoto Travel and we are thankful for the 10 years he contributed to the company.

2023 - New priorities

2023 was our busiest year ever with photo expeditions to the Ross Sea, Svalbard, Eastern Greenland, South Georgia, and Falkland Islands. After our photo expedition to Antarctica in January 2024, we decided to focus the rest of the year on our operations in Svalbard on MS Virgo (with 12 guests). It was also good for our company, guests, partners, and guides to calm down a little after some stressful post-Covid-19 years.