One of the big benefits of being a text reporter is that I can travel fairly light — a notebook, pencils and sharpeners. The same can’t be said for my colleagues, Associated Press photographer David Goldman and video journalist David Keyton.

When their assignment is to document climate change’s impact on the Arctic Circle’s Northwest Passage — and do it from aboard an icebreaker — they don’t have the luxury of dropping by a camera shop for a forgotten item or getting it shipped.

They packed a full line-up of wide angle, fixed focal length, zoom and telephoto lenses to go with their Canon DSLR camera bodies; a Panasonic P2 video camera; and several GoPro action cams with external microphones.

To keep the pictures steady on a ship, they brought along several tripods, monopods and lighting stands, as well as two gimbals and a glidecam — devices to mechanically stabilize video capture when filming on the move.

Underwater housings for the cameras, two drones, remote controls and a couple of 360-degree cameras to provide a variety of visual perspectives.

In case of rain, they brought along camera covers. And since most of the voyage takes place outside areas covered by cellular networks, Goldman packed a satellite transmitter. And, of course, they packed lots of batteries and chargers.

Over the last couple of weeks, as the MSV Nordica moved from the Bering Strait to the ice floes deeper into the Arctic, Keyton and Goldman have had to get creative to get the photos and video that will bring viewers to the Arctic.

They are dangling GoPros with ropes down to the water level to record the icebreaker pushing aside or crushing the ice. Goldman has put his camera into a case that allows it to be dropped underwater, and is using a remote to make photos.

Goldman says it “looks like fishing for photos off the side of the boat.”

Follow a team of AP journalists as they travel through the Arctic Circle’s fabled Northwest Passage on AP News: https://www.apnews.com/tag/NewArctic

Text from the AP news story, 360 camera, drones: AP team gears up for a melting Arctic, by Frank Jordans.

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Photos by David Goldman