Some days I think too much and see too little. Other days, despite myself, I think I get it right.

One of the most recent examples of this balance came in a strangely calm sea of ice floes off the coast of Greenland. I was in a Zodiac with other passenger-photographers from the National Geographic Explorer. Poking around the pack ice and alert for the odd seal basking in the frozen splendor, we were in a wonderland. All around us, the ice stretched off to the horizon, a seascape relieved only by the distant profile of the Explorer awaiting our return. All was calm—no wind, no waves, just water and ice.

That we were even at that location was a bit