These polar photographs by scientist Klaus Hochheim in Ice: Moments evoke a sense of wonder, and the scale of these photos contributes to that wonder. Often his pictures zoom into extremely tight focus or pull back to reveal a landscape that seems to stretch to infinity. Hochheim’s passion for these massively impressive yet fragile environments carries the viewer to places few have set foot, a visual reminder that while wondrous, the glaciers and mountains of the polar regions are not as alien as they might seem. His careful attention reveals to the viewer that wonder can be found everywhere. There is, admittedly, loneliness in these photographs. But there is serenity also and a sense that the land, sky, and sea are asking to be respected and admired. Every Hochheim photo is distinct, each one having a personality of its own and a story to tell.

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Each spring the focus returned to planning and preparation for the summer season in the Arctic. Always there were older, weather-damaged instruments to be coaxed back into action and new instruments to test and set up, both for his own experiments and for student programs. Klaus was lending his particular talents to ensure that this equipment would actually work in the difficult environment that is sea ice in the Arctic. Then in the spring, he was off to Quebec City, to load the Amundsen and depart for another season of science on the ice.

—from the Foreword by Martha Hochheim

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It is this quotidian quality of the medium that might just express the magic of the photograph: its unique ability to create an amalgam of art and science, of document and concept, and, perhaps most importantly, of public and private. Klaus’s images are at once measured but playful, plain yet elucidatory. This is, in part, a result of Klaus’s familiarity with photographic techniques and visual design (first nurtured while watching his father work), but no less important was the prevalence of a camera in his daily life to take advantage of moments waiting to be photographed. Interesting photographs are a combination of skill, luck, and vision. To consider Klaus’s aptitude for photography, look at his infrared photographs, with their unusual colours and tones, which feel otherworldly yet somehow familiar, inviting us to look closer.

—from “Frozen moments, fluid meanings: Considering the circumpolar photographs of Klaus Hochheim,” curatorial essay by Sarah Hodges-Kolisnyk, MA, Director, MHC Gallery, Canadian Mennonite University

Sea ice is frozen seawater. It contains salt, giving it a different structure than the translucent freshwater ice that we may skate, ski, and travel on in southern Manitoba. Sea ice covers approximately 5% of the earth’s surface, providing an extensive white blanket that serves as a habitat, a travel route, an impediment to ships, and a barrier between the atmosphere and ocean. In terms of the climate, sea ice presents a vast white surface that reflects much of the sun’s energy and thereby slows global warming. You can think of sea ice and also areas of land-ice (ice sheets and glaciers) as earth’s air conditioning unit. However, in the 1990s, it became apparent that the burning of fossil fuels was causing these cooling units to be overworked, and by the following decade it was abundantly clear that Arctic sea ice was declining. The ice pack was becoming thinner and less extensive, exposing a greater area of open water that further amplified warming. Around the time that Klaus shifted his focus to sea ice, the Arctic ice pack underwent a dramatic reduction which garnered global attention and rang alarm bells about the state of the climate. While concerns about the state of sea ice grew, it remained difficult to study. The Arctic is dark and cold for much of the year, expeditions to study sea ice are arduous and expensive, and the scale of the problem is vast. As a result, we rely heavily on satellites to observe sea ice. However, the long polar night and extensive cloud cover during summer make optical remote sensing almost useless. We must rely on microwave technology.

Klaus’s experience and expertise in the technology and his growing interest in the Arctic had prepared him to study the emerging problem of global warming and its impact on sea ice and the climate of the North; he embraced the challenge with enthusiasm.

—from “From prairies to poles: The scientific career of Klaus Hochheim,” essay by David Babb, PhD, Centre for Earth Observation Science, University of Manitoba

Learn more about Ice: Moments

This full-colour coffee-table-format art book of Arctic and Antarctic photographs by the late Klaus Hochheim captures both the working life and the artistic eye of this ice researcher, who died accidentally in 2013 while conducting research in the Arctic. In the tradition of great modernist photographers, Hochheim's pictures offer intimate seeing and profound clarity. This beautiful book of 78 large-scale photos exhibited in 2024 also includes essays by exhibition curator Sarah Hodges-Kolisnyk and ice scientist David Babb, and a foreword by Martha Hochheim, the photographer's widow.