Spitsbergen – Past and Present is concerned with environmental photography and stories of ice and has its foundation in the understanding of a dramatic change in the wild landscape of Arctic Svalbard. It is about the perception of the Arctic and relate to the historic representation of Spitsbergen, expeditions, science and art, contemporary applications and interpretations of historical photographs through, fieldwork, archival research and rephotography. Photographic fieldwork, based on historical photographs and using the method of rephotography, gives us images of the present and the past that speaks beyond the possibilities of written records. The photographs show not only changes over time through specific data in the images but also addresses issues regarding shifting cultural views of how the natural world has been visualized over time. They are also part of a wider and interdisciplinary context on how these areas of the earth, the wild places, have been valued and are valued in our contemporary world. The result is a photographic record – documents and artistic representations – with visual timelines. Photography is a direct way of bearing witness and creating sequences of evidential data on changes over time in landscapes. Applied to the stories of a changing Arctic photography function as both a witness to mankind’s interference with land and sea. Environmental photography includes using photographs to portray human relationships to the environment, and using rephotographic methods to examine how nature and landscapes have changed over time.