THE MOTHERBEAR
We are photographer Melissa Schäfer and producer Fredrik Granath. Partners in life, work and all. We are based in Stockholm, Longyearbyen and the world.
We do this work because we feel it is important. But also because we love it. We love life in the field, the long spells wintertime on the pack ice and around the frozen fjords. It is a work which is as much life as it is work. Our goal is to capture the truth, and perhaps some of the essence of Arctic life. We want to get under the skin, get close to our subjects. Because when we're able to do that, what is behind and between the photographs becomes more important than the photos themselves. And a story is created, where all the images connect, and add up to something bigger than the individual shots.
MELISSA SCHÄFER
PHOTOGRAPHER
From her early childhood days in Hamburg, Germany, Melissa has viewed the world through her camera lens. With a background in creative and portrait photography she has always had a unique eye for the surroundings. A deep love for the Arctic and polar bears as well as a strong commitment to nature and the environment is a foundation for all her work. Melissa has been published in The New York Times, National Geographic, GEO and others.
FREDRIK GRANATH
PRODUCER
Leading expert on field work and production in the polar regions. Since 2001 he has been working around the Arctic on his own projects, and also as a producer and adviser for other film- and photographic projects in the Arctic, including work for film studios and the National Geographic. He has assembled a unique expertise of working under the most extreme conditions and is specialised in polar bears.
NANUK & PINGO
Our little girl Nanuk was born in May 2016 and she's been our boss since then. We adopted Pingo from Svalbard in 2021, when he retired from a long and successful career as sled dog at Basecamp Spitsbergen.
THE MOTHERBEAR AND MOTHER EARTH
There are many things we can do as individuals for our environment and future. One is to join others and let our voices be heard together. Parts of our profits are donated to great organizations like these.
We at The Motherbear work for a better future on this planet. Working with photography around the world, we do leave footprints. Traveling far and often we can’t avoid emitting some extra greenhouse gases. We calculate all unavoidable carbon emissions created during our work, and we carbon offset (climate compensate) as much as we possibly can. Our goal is to over-compensate, to give more than we take to our planet. This is mostly done through ATMOSFAIR.
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MELISSA
FREDRIK
PARTNERS
