Crossing the Drake

It takes almost two days to cross the Drake Passage (the roughest waters in the world)(we’ve been blessed with an easy crossing) to get to Antarctica. What do you do while you’re waiting to arrive? Sleep. Read. And listen to onboard lectures. Watch the ocean. Weather thick but not interesting. Light low. Wind and waves relatively small – enough to bounce us around, but not enough to perform for the lens.
The Quark team offers lectures on the area. It’s interesting to note that200 years ago Antarctica was just an idea. The explorers who discovered it in bits and pieces went through harrowing experiences to find them, largely pursuing commercial interest before scientific ones. Times change fast. Now the region is in an era of government sponsored scientific research. The first tourist cruises started in the early 60’s. Recently, there’s been an explosion of tourism in the last ten years; 1998 7,000 people; 2008 35,000 people. The staff is split; it’s too early to tell if global warming is having an impact on the area versus it won’t be here for long.
Seminars started today. Seth Resnick did a great job on asset management. His recommendation for file naming? 31 characters, no spaces, no punctuation, except . – and _. Dates in yyyymmdd – 20090111. His file name – 20070125_sobe_0001.cr2.)
Seth has many examples of how the right keywords have translated into dramatic increases in his stock photography sales. Learning more about keywords is high on my list this trip. I need them for an upcoming project. My advice? Just get started. No matter what kind of photographer you are, keywords are useful. The longer you wait, the more work you’ll have to do later. No system will ever be perfect. Things (systems and words) will evolve.
Enjoy my Antarctica galleries, book, and statements.
Learn more about my workshops here.
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