Torgersen Island, Port Lockroy
February 16, 2013 | Leave a Comment
Near Palmer Station, Torgersen Island offered a colony of adelie penguins, seals and nearby glaciers. We split the morning adventure, half on land and half on water. Neither presented themselves as easy to photograph. We worked it hard. Then we discovered, at the far end of the bay, a massive, tripartite, castellated iceberg – one of the most magnificent I’ve ever seen. It looked entirely different from three different sides, each allowing us to look through to the others and beyond to the surrounding landscape/seascape. The group that arrived first, encountered humpbacks there. The group that arrived last, found a small juvenile penguin seeking shelter on ice.
Before lunch, brave souls took the polar plunge. For some reason, I call this practice into question every time, when they bring out the defibrillator, which I’ve never seen them use.
In the afternoon, Port Lockroy offered a small manned outpost in a big wilderness, where you could mail post cards, which would go first to England before arriving weeks or months later at their destinations. We cruised up long stretches of glaciers in search of interesting ice, circling several pieces, both large and small, that appeared to have been sculpted by Henry Moore or Alexander Calder. Then snow came.
After dinner, I presented my seminar Game Changers discussing new possibilities for exposure and processing, giving participants a lot to sleep on.
Find out about upcoming Antarctica digital photography workshops here.
Orne Harbor, Errera Channel, Danko Island, Neumayer Channel, Port Lockroy
January 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment
5 am and Michael Reichmann comes on the PA, “There’s gorgeous light -again.” We’ve all had 2 hours sleep. 4 the night before. Who knows how many the two nights before that. We’re running on adrenaline – so we do it. Seth Resnick shows up on deck and asks to trade lenses, “I can’t believe I’m asking you for your 28 mm. I’m a 300 mm man.” We’ve been influence each other every trip. I love photographing with this guy. It’s not just his contagious enthusiasm. It’s not just that he likes to push the envelope and I like to come along for the ride. It’s that he sees so differently. The other day, he got an awesome shot, accomplishing one of the things I’ve been trying to do better, by putting his 14 mm lens and inch from the water, getting the long stretch of blue iceberg running down deep into the water reflection free, with a little iceberg on top. That move may have cost me a new lens. We both find each other versatile and innovative. Note to self. Photograph more with stimulating photographers.
Later, at our pre-breakfast hike, many of us decide to catch up on a little sleep, including me – until I saw ice stranded on the shoreline. It was a tiny detail others overlooked. Everyone else went to the top of the mountain for that one great shot. Not me, I’m went to a place where there might be dozens or more. Our expedition leader likes to take us to high vista points where we can survey the fabulous landscape. We keep asking for more zodiac cruises. He doesn’t realize it’s more than an obsession with ice; it’s a photographic issue. You know those pull outs in National Parks – “scenic view”? Ever notice there’s only one image you can make there? Everyone makes it. The only way you can really work it and come up with something different
is with a telephoto, extracting small details. Instead of looking down, you can put yourself in situations where you can move through the landscape and interact with it more. Then it’s much easier to come away with something different. Edward Weston swore off landscapes, for a while, feeling they didn’t allow the artist enough artistic freedom and turned to still life instead. Later her returned to landscape, but with a fresh eye from his leave of absence.
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