During my 2011 expedition to Antarctica I wore a persistent ear-to-ear grin when out shooting, which was for most of my waking hours. Many of the bays and coves we visited were festooned with icebergs that provided limitless opportunities for photography. As a colour photographer, I place great emphasis on a complimentary pallet of colours in my images, so I was completely enthralled by the deep blues and luminous aquamarines in the ice. On more than one occasion the cry of ‘look at those blues!’ could be heard coming from either our zodiac, or another nearby.  Even the frequent driving snow did little to dampen my enthusiasm for the extraordinary colours and the magical scenes around us.

To the End of the World

I am methodically working my way through the editing and processing of my photographs but wanted to share some examples that illustrate the range and tone of colours found in Antarctica. Post-production of these photographs, and in particular the blues and greens, presented some unique challenges. To date, my experience has shown that a very delicate touch is required in order to compliment and accentuate the myriad of subtle tones and textures in the ice and to balance these with the overall colours in each frame.

Ribbed Ice

The temptation to overly saturate colour that is naturally incredibly vibrant and surreal is an easy mistake to make. The end result can be a photograph that not only transgresses belief but appears almost gaudy. Judicious use of saturation is the key difference between an incredible, but believable photograph and one that is quite simply ‘over cooked’. It’s a discussion I have had with my good friend and co-Moab Master Andy Biggs over Skype on a couple of occasions and we are in agreement that no embellishment is required in most cases – isn’t Mother Nature wonderful! In these examples very little post-production work was performed to the RAW files. No additional saturation or vibrance was added and in the majority of cases the white balance was only subtly tweaked, or otherwise left as shot.

Penguins Adrift in Snow Storm

I am starting to make my first prints from this trip for my upcoming exhibition in Melbourne at Source Photographica and have settled on Moab Entrada Rag Natural 300gsm as the paper of choice for my Antarctica images. After some experimentation I have found Entrada Rag Natural to offer the ideal surface and stipple to preserve the tone and colour in my photographs. Images have a soft, soothing, somewhat muted and understated look on Entrada Rag that I find highly complementary to the vividness of the natural blues and greens. Delicate texture and detail is retained and enhanced by the paper surface, whilst blacks remain rich and deep. Entrada Rag Natural 300gsm is in many ways a similar paper to my other favorite Somerset Museum Rag. However, there are some subtle differences in the surface texture that led me to choose Entrada Rag for my Antarctica photographs, because it retains and accentuates all the subtle nuances in the ice surfaces.

Higher resolution versions of these photographs can be seen at my portfolio website at www.jholko.com

EDIT – Some of you may have noticed that this blog entry has also appeared on the Moab website and that another of my earlier entries ‘The Fortress‘ also appeared on Gura Gear’s blog a few days prior to my own. You aren’t going crazy or experiencing a weird case of de’ja’vu. I was invited by both Moab and Gura Gear to share some journal entries for their own blogs that I think might be of interest to their readers.

I recall one such moment, which took place more than a decade ago when I was swinging on a rappel line high above the ground at the You Yangs National Park. I was photographing my brother lead climbing a classic trad-crack rock climb. It was late afternoon and the light was soft with high cirrus cloud muting the usually strong contrast of the Australian sun. Facing a potentially serious fall, my brother slowly inched his way up the rock and into my viewfinder as I hovered in space above him. I was staring down the line of the climb with my camera, watching his every move. As he climbed into the frame, he paused for just a moment and, with muscles rippling, he lifted his head and winced as the summer breeze blew the chalk dust from his hands. The rope went slack as the belay fed out some line, and I fired the shutter. That was the moment. With a last effort my brother quickly stuffed a ‘friend’ into the crack in the rock for some protection and promptly fell off, utterly spent. The resulting photograph still hangs in my brother’s living room and is a reminder to me that photography is so often all about the decisive moment. Unfortunately, I long ago misplaced the transparency and my only record of this shot is now the ageing 16 x 20 Cibachrome.

I experienced another of these decisive moments in Iceland in 2010 when I shot the large iceberg ‘Blue Berg’, which had washed ashore on the black sand beach at the Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon. With a storm brewing on the horizon and the sun falling low in the sky, all of nature’s elements were in perfect alignment for a great image. I set my desired aperture and shutter speed, loaded the graduated neutral density filter, shot some frames and knew I had a great photograph that I would be very happy to hang over my mantelpiece. This photograph subsequently went on to win the 2010 World Extreme Environment Photograph of the Year People’s Choice Award and won a Gold Award in the Landscape category at the 2010 APPA Awards.

The truth is these kinds of opportunities are probably more prevalent than I realize. It is why the skill of just looking and really seeing is of such importance in photography. Failing to recognize the opportunity when it presents itself is a tragedy for the photographer, so it is important to train yourself to be always looking – even when you are not out with a camera.

On my recent trip to Antarctica I was fortunate to come across another opportunity of this type. It was somewhere around the Gerlache Strait, and we were slowly cruising past gigantic stadium-sized icebergs in our ice hardened ship, ‘The Ocean Nova’. As our expedition leader Graham liked to put it “Just cruising in Captain Alexey’s zodiac“. The weather was overcast with soft, dim, moody lighting that I find ideal for photographing icebergs. Suddenly, we came across this massive, jagged and castellated iceberg with its precipitous peaks and hard chiseled surfaces. I was standing on the Port side of the ship chatting to my friend Andy Biggs about the Leica S2. As we drew closer I had to make a quick decision about what lens I was going to use to best capture and accentuate the iceberg’s characteristics. I use prime lenses almost exclusively, which meant I needed to make a decision on the spot as to how I was going to approach this particular opportunity. Whilst zoom lenses provide greater immediate flexibility for framing, I prefer the quality of primes for my work.

In this instance, I decided to use the Canon 17mm F4L TSE Tilt and Shift lens on my 1DS MKIII and scurried back to my cabin, dove into my Kiboko bag, and quickly changed glass. By the time I arrived back on deck we were already beginning to circle the iceberg and most of the other photographers were already firing away, whilst simultaneously staring in awe at one of nature’s most amazing wonders.

The decision to use the 17mm F4L TSE was an easy one for me, since I knew immediately I wanted some perspective control to stop the ice peaks from appearing to fall away from the viewer (a problem with wide angle lenses that are tilted when shot). Although perspective control is relatively easy to do in post-production, I prefer to try and get it right in the camera wherever possible (it means less pixel mangling later and I am first and foremost a photographer and not a Photoshop technician). I also wanted to use some lens shift to get me lower and closer to the water since we were shooting from several stories high on the ship. This was a delicate balancing act, since dialing in some lens tilt changes the plane of focus. Although I could have shot this close to wide open without any tilt and achieved adequate depth of field, the introduction of some lens tilt meant I had to be very careful to stop down enough to keep the top peaks of the ice in focus – in other words achieving infinite depth of field from near to far was no longer the issue. I had to achieve sufficient depth of field from top to bottom and this could only be done by stopping down the camera sufficiently – in this case F8 proved perfect. I also had to balance my ISO setting and shutter speed to avoid camera shake (tripods are out of the question on a ship), manually focus the lens (the 17mm F4L TSE is manual focus only), shield the lenses bulbous front element from the pervasive salt spray and get my framing right, all whilst on a pitching, and moving ship surrounded by other photographers all jostling for position.  There was a lot to think about and lots of opportunities for mistakes.

In the end, I shot about two-dozen frames with the 17mm F4L TSE lens of this iceberg while Captain Alexey circled it in the Ocean Nova. I was fortunate that there was some good moody cloud cover to soften the light when we came upon this iceberg. Direct sunlight would have made for much harsher shadows and less pleasing light.

Of all the shots I took of this iceberg only one has what I consider to be the perfect angle in combination with ideal lighting – and this is it. A shot I have titled ‘The Fortress’ for its castle-like precipitous peaks.

The Fortress

When I sat down to start this entry I had in mind that I was going to talk about how I processed this photograph in Adobe Lightroom 3.6. However, I realized when I put pen to paper that I had really done very little to the RAW file at all. Basic corrections included setting the white and black points, adding some clarity (+25), refining the crop slightly and capture sharpening appropriate to the camera/lens/shot combination. I also added a graduated filter and vignette to darken the top of the sky; which I normally would have done ‘in-camera’ with the use of a graduated neutral density filter. However, due to the bulbous element on the 17mm F4L TSE it is virtually impossible to use filters. I decided after some tweaking that I actually preferred the white balance as set by the camera and left the temperature at 5650 and the tint at -2, as shot.

Antarctica is an incredibly surreal location for photography. The pallet of colours on display is quite literally unbelievable. No embellishment is required and as such this photograph was processed with zero vibrance and zero saturation. The shades of blue in the deepest crevices of the ice are naturally so intense that they already fall outside the gamut of some printers.

I would estimate that this iceberg was roughly the size of a football field (above water) and was about eight to ten stories high from the waterline with its jagged and precipitous peaks towering above our ship. Icebergs of this size are quite stable even in relatively strong winds and we were able to get quite close as we cruised past in our ice-hardened vessel. I had my 24mm F1.4L MKII lens on my 1D MKIV camera over my shoulder and although I took some frames with that camera and lens I was not able to fit the entire iceberg into the frame and as such those frames I feel lack the impact of this single image.

In the end, I could have shot this iceberg with pretty much any lens but decided in this instance that it was the iceberg in its entirety that was amazing to me. I deliberately included the distant shore on the left of the iceberg to put the iceberg into context and I also included the distant tabular iceberg on the right to balance the frame. Although I am still editing, sorting and processing my photographs from this expedition, the end result in this instance is a photograph that I feel may stand up as my signature image of this remarkable trip.

A higher resolution version of this photograph can be seen on my portfolio website at www.jholko.com

Invitation

]]> http://blog.jholko.com/2012/01/17/cradle-mountain-tasmania-colours-of-iceland-exhibition/feed/ 2 JHolko image001 http://blog.jholko.com/2012/01/10/adobe-lightroom-4-beta-release-is-here/ http://blog.jholko.com/2012/01/10/adobe-lightroom-4-beta-release-is-here/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 05:23:39 +0000 jholko http://blog.jholko.com/?p=4699 ]]> From Adobe’s Blog: The Lightroom team is proud to introduce the fourth major version of the product designed for and by photographers. It was 6 years ago today when we introduced the very first public beta of Lightroom at MacWorld on January 9, 2006. (Yes, it was Mac only, smaller in footprint than most raw files and didn’t have a crop tool!) Since 2006 we’ve been hard at work improving an application that’s intended to be as easy to use as it is powerful. This release builds on the fundamental performance architecture and image quality improvements in Lightroom 3 to provide a truly complete workflow solution. I kept hearing from customers that they love Lightroom but needed to leave the Lightroom to complete X, Y or Z. Lightroom 4 tackles those issues with improvements to image organization, adjustment tools and comprehensive publishing options.

High Level Summary of What’s New

• Robust Video Support
• Manage images by location with the Map Module
• Simplified Basic Adjustments
• Powerful new Shadow & Highlight controls
• Additional local adjustments including Noise Reduction and White Balance
• Soft Proofing Reinvented – Yay!
• Elegant Photo Book creation
• Email from directly within Lightroom
• Publish videos directly to Facebook or Flickr
• Enhanced DNG workflows
• Adobe Revel export workflow

Lightroom 4 BETA can be downloaded from Adobe HERE

I was extremely honoured to be appointed as Australia’s first and only Moab Master photographer by Moab and Legion paper in the USA. I took out a Gold award at APPA (The Australian Professional Photography Awards) with my very first print  in this competition and won three Silvers with my other three prints. I won the 2011 World Extreme Environment Photography Peoples Choice Award, made the cover of F11 Magazine (and feature article), won a spotlight Portfolio award in the prestigious American magazine B&W + Color, won a Portfolio award in the highly regarded Silvershotz journal and had my some of my work featured by National Geographic as ‘Travel Photograph of the Week’. I was also published in numerous other publications including one of my favourite outdoor magazines ‘Wild‘. I was featured on Canon Australia’s EOS1 Wall as a Pro Judge, interviewed for the EOS Pro website and was a semi finalist in the Windland Smith Rice Awards.  I also opened (although I was in Antarctica for the actual physical opening) my new exhibition ‘Colours of Iceland’ at the Wilderness Gallery at Cradle Mountain in Tasmania. This exhibition features a room of 20+ 20×30 inch prints from my 2010 trip to Iceland. I feel like I accomplished quite a lot last year and ticked a lot off my goal list. I am however currently way behind on my image editing and processing from my recent Antarctica shoot; which has already left me feeling somewhat behind the eight ball to kick off 2012 – plenty of work ahead of me.

Colours of Iceland at the Wilderness Gallery

2012 is shaping up to a very busy year with a lot of travel including some time in France, Italy (Venice), London and Iceland (I am particularly looking forward to my workshop in Iceland in July/August); plus more time in the South Island of New Zealand and Tasmania in the next few weeks. I have a new exhibition opening early in the year in Melbourne and my current exhibition at the Wilderness Gallery at Cradle Mountain will continue on for most of 2012. I have a lot of printing to do in the next couple of months to prepare for my Melbourne exhibition at Source Photographica and I am currently selecting images to include in the exhibition. Although I said this last year, I do intend to try and spend more time photographing down the Great Ocean Road in my home state of Victoria. This location is world class and even though it quite literally is in my backyard (just a few hours drive)  it has been much neglected by me – a situation I intend to remedy in 2012.

My travel plans seem to extend deeper and further every year and even though we are only at the beginning of 2012 I have extensive plans either underway or already in place for 2013. I will be leading another workshop to Iceland in July/August 2013 (I will be releasing details in the next few weeks on this trip for those who have already registered their interest) and then heading over to Svarlbad with my friend Daniel Bergmann to photograph the Polar Bears for a couple of weeks. I have already blanked out two weeks in my calendar for the South Island of New Zealand in April 2014 with my friend Martyn – seems a long way off still; but I guess it will be here before we know it. 2014 is also the year I hope to finally make it to Africa with my good friend Andy Biggs and tick the last of the seven continents. Amongst all of this I plan to try and get to Moab and Death Valley in the States – assuming time, finances and the planets all align.

In terms of photographic equipment – The Canon 1DX will no doubt find its way into my camera bag in the first quarter of 2012; but I admit to secretly hoping Canon announce a new monster mega pixel camera to ‘really’ replace my venerable (but still amazing) 1DS MKIII. The 1DX should be a phenomenal low light and wildlife camera; but given the majority of my shooting is long exposure and tripod based its application in my photography will be somewhat limited. I have decided to sell either my Canon 1Ds MKIII or MKIV in the next few weeks to make room for the 1DX. I only purchased the MKIV for Antarctica and although it is truly an excellent and remarkable camera I prefer the 1DS MKIII for landscape because its full frame (the difference in resolution is kind of irrelevant as what the MKIV gives up in resolution it makes up for in pixel quality). I am somewhat undecided on which to sell at the moment. I think I am just having a hard time coming to terms with the realisation that it probably is the 1DS MKIII that should be retired at this point. The trick will be minimising down time by selling the 1DS MKIII just as the 1DX turns up so that I am not without a full frame camera for more than a few days.

I admit to yearning for a Leica S2 after shooting with one in Antarctica (it really produces a stunning file), but I just can’t come to grips with the limited lens selection and economics of ownership of a complete package at this point in time. As per my Antarctica Debrief post I intend to keep a close eye on Leica’s support for the S2.  I spent some time looking into an Alpa STC and Cambo technical camera before I left for Antarctica in November last year and have not yet ruled one out as an option with a Phase One back. However, the industry feels to me like it is in somewhat of a state of suspended animation at the moment with high pixel count 30+ mega pixel DSLR’s on the horizon (but not yet officially announced) and I would like see some files from these new cameras before I make a decision. Other than the 1DX I really have no idea what else might make it into my camera bag this year. Speaking of camera bags – the new Gura Gear 22 litre Kiboko is likely to be added to my camera bag collection this year – specifically for short hikes from the car when I don’t want to schlepp my big fully loaded Kiboko (You can never have too many camera bags!)

I am also hoping to make a couple of exciting announcement regarding equipment manufacturers in 2012. More to come on this later.

Lastly, I am overdue with updating some of the other pages on my site/s and I hope to make some time over the coming months to bring my blog (and website at www.jholko.com) up to date.

Oh.. and before I forget – I have finally updated the photo of the month for January 2012. I rarely include people in my landscape photography; but on this occasion I felt the inclusion of the zodiac really helped give a sense of scale to the ice as well as adding drama to the scene with all of the photographers looking in the same direction – as if they can see something that hasn’t quite come into view yet for the rest of us. For me this photograph epitomises the wonderful experience I had during my 2011 Antarctica expedition. It captures and conveys the feeling of what it is like to shoot from zodiac amongst the ice under dramatic Antarctic skies.

On the Way to the End of the World

Deception Island Antarctica

Now that some time has past and I have had some time to reflect on the trip to Antarctica at the bottom of the world I want to share my experience of what worked and what didn’t work for me during the trip (much as I did for my trip to Iceland last year). Those of you who follow my blog will already be well aware that I like to plan meticulously in terms of where I am going and what I am going to take with me on my photography trips. This trip to Antarctica was a little different than normal in that I had no real say in exactly where in Antarctica I was going. Location was determined more or less on a day by day basis dependant on the prevailing weather conditions and our expedition leaders experience and local knowledge. This was in many ways a good thing as it freed me up to focus and concentrate on my photography. A quick word of praise and thanks to our expedition leader Graham who went above and beyond the call of duty on numerous occasions to ensure we were in the best locations at the best possible time. Trying to please 70 odd neurotic and maniacal photographers all mad keen on making the most of their Antarctic adventure is no easy feat. Yet Graham managed his role and duties with great aplomb. His role is in many ways an unenviable thankless task so it is important to take moment to recognise and thank him for his excellent work throughout the trip.

It is worth mentioning at this point in time that shooting from ship presents its own unique challenges. In some ways shooting from ship is quite easy; one can simply step outside from their cabin onto the deck, frame and shoot. Tripods are obviously out of the question so all one really has to do is select a focal length, ensure shutter speed and aperture are appropriate and wait for the subject to roll past – pretty easy stuff that makes for very civilised photography. Shooting from zodiac however presents a different set of challenges – not the least of which is keeping camera gear dry and operating. The logistics of shooting from zodiac make the entire photography equation much more complex and I will write a dedicated post on the pros and cons and how to approach this style of shooting at a later date.

My Friend Martyn Shooting from the Ocean Nova

All of my camera gear operated and performed flawlessly the entire trip. I noted in my initial blog post on returning from Antarctica how harsh the shooting conditions were and it is worth re-iterating that on multiple occasions my cameras were covered in sea water and salt spray in freezing conditions when shooting from zodiac. I was extremely glad that I decided to take two 1-series Pro bodies with me for this trip as these cameras are all but indestructible and are designed to cope with very adverse shooting environments (and Antarctica certainly qualifies as an adverse shooting environment). Between the salt spray, cold, dust (when changing lenses – Antarctica is an incredibly dusty place), snow and ice there are lots of opportunities for cameras to fail. Several other photographers had failures with Canon 5D MKII’s and 7D’s. It is a testament to the build quality of Canon’s 1-series cameras and L-series lenses that they continue to operate in such extreme environments under such adverse conditions. There is no question that I am both hard and demanding of my equipment. When in the field I take little in the way of precautions to keep my gear dry. In fact, I pretty much gave up during several zodiac excursions as the sleet and spray were overpowering and focused on just wiping away the worst of the spray off my lenses so I could keep shooting. It is also worth noting that there were also several medium format digital rigs on this expedition including a couple of Hasselblad cameras with Phase One backs and a Mamiya 645D. To my knowledge there were no issues with any of the medium format equipment; although I never saw any of it in operation from zodiac.

I was very glad I made the switch from a full size 17″ macbook pro to the smaller and lighter 15″ Pro for this trip. I really noticed the saving in weight, size and convenience during the many hours spent in airports and in transit. I really appreciate the ability to keyword my photographs in Lightroom during my trips (as well as check sharpness and exposure on the laptop monitor) so prefer to travel with a full size laptop as opposed to a small card reader/viewer. That said, I really appreciate the weight and space saving of image viewers and although I do not own one I am keen to try one on a future endeavour.

In many ways this was the Gura Gear trip to Antarctica. I would estimate somewhere around 40-50% of all the photographers on this trip were sporting at least one Gura Gear Kiboko camera bag. And who can blame them? There is no such thing as the perfect camera bag for all occasions; but it was universally agreed amongst all those photographers I spoke with that the Gura Gear Kiboko is the best camera bag on the market and as close to perfection as possible. I am utterly convinced that the Kiboko is the number one camera bag on the market and it was great to be able to spend some time with Gura Gears founder and chief designer Andy Biggs to relay my experience with the Gura Gear product. One of the added side benefits of the Kiboko is that it has very much become the photographers ‘introduction tool’. With so many photographers choosing the Kiboko it has become a symbol for the travelling photographer and both my friend Martyn and I had conversations with several others at airports who recognised us as fellow photographers due to our Gura Gear bags. All good fun and a really great way to meet other photographers.

Gura Gear Founder Andy Biggs - Looking very 'North Face'

This was the maiden voyage for the Gura Gear Chobe for me. If you read my pre-flight review HERE then you are already well aware that I had high hopes for this bag based on my initial impressions and thoughts on how I planned to use it. I am very pleased to report that the Chobe lived up to my expectations throughout the trip. In fact, the Chobe has convinced me that it really can serve as both an overnight bag and as a dedicated camera bag depending on your specific needs at the time. Given its ability to also carry a laptop, card readers, back up hard drives and other accessories it really can meet just about any demand. Whilst I wouldn’t do any serious  hiking with the Chobe (and it was never designed for this purpose) I would quite happily sling it over my shoulder and carry it in the field for an extended period. Quite a few other members of the trip were also sporting Chobe’s in addition to their Kiboko’s for additional camera gear, laptops and accessories – Gura Gear are definitely on a winner.

Penguin trying to nick my Kiboko

One of the real joys of the trip for me was the opportunity to shoot with the Leica S2 and 120mm Apo-Macro Summarit lens. I have been half toying with the idea of adding a Leica S2 to my kit for some time and I relished the opportunity to put one through its paces in the field thanks to good friend Andy Biggs. I was particularly keen to see how reliable the Leica was in the very adverse shooting conditions found in Antarctica as I have heard somewhat spurious second hand reports of S2 failures in the field before. The S2 is a wonderful camera that feels like it was carved from a single block of ‘unobtanium’ and I am pleased to report it performed flawlessly during the trip. Its somewhat slow to focus compared to my Canons and dialling in exposure compensation requires far too many button presses but it otherwise has an intuitive user interface and produces stunningly sharp files. The increase in resolution over the Canon 1DS MKIII is most definitely advantageous – at least when viewing files at 100% on screen. The ‘S’ series lenses are quite simply the best I have experienced with outstanding corner sharpness and contrast. I have to continually wipe the drool off my keyboard every time I inspect the files. I have not as yet had a chance to make any prints from the S2, but I am very much looking forward to seeing a few prints roll off the printer. Is there a Leica S2 in my future? No. Put simply, the economics of the S2 currently don’t stack up for me for a number of different reasons. But there is probably a revised Leica S2 in my distant future and I will be keeping a good eye on Leica’s lens range and support for the S2.

As is usually the case for me I packed too many clothes for this trip. This is something I continually struggle with on all my photographic expeditions. On location I tend to more or less live in the one set of clothes and almost always come home with some unworn items of clothing. I really need to work on minimising my clothing attire. I travelled almost exclusively with 66 North clothing for this expedition and it kept me both warm and dry the entire trip. I was pleased to see several other members of the expedition had taken my pre-trip recommendation and also purchased 66 North clothing – it really is one of the best (ok, the best) range of outdoor clothing on the planet.

66 North Clothing at 66 Degrees South Antarctica

I already made mention in my initial return post from Antarctica that Quark Expeditions were outstanding in every way and I stand by my prior thoughts and comments. My expectations were continually exceeded by all of the Quark crew (including the legendary secret weapon – Captain Alexey). This praise applies across the board from the ships cleaning staff, to the multiple chefs and culinary staff to the zodiac drivers, biologists, ornithologists, expedition leader and crew. To my mind they could not have provided a better experience. It is worth noting that Quark title their trips as ‘Polar Expeditions’ and not ‘cruises’. Expeditions is an appropriate word as the emphasis on our trip was in getting the photographers to the best possible locations in whatever the prevailing conditions.  Although the level of service was exemplary in every way I would encourage those looking for luxury 5+star cruising to look elsewhere. Alighting a pitching zodiac in Antarctic winds with pounds of camera gear in large swells is not for everyone. Remember its Quark ‘Expeditions’ – Not Quark ‘Cruises’.

Crossing the Drake

It is also worth taking a moment to talk about the Drake Passage and seasickness. As I have previously mentioned I have never suffered from any kind of motion sickness but I took preventative medication on this trip in the form of ‘scopolamine’ patches; which are designed to act of the part of the brain that causes nausea. Unfortunately these patches (which last quite a long time – 24 hours+) have some rather dramatic side effects including severe drowsiness, a very dry mouth and a very horrible metallic taste on the pallet. I found they made me so drowsy on the trip over that I felt the urge to quite literally go straight back to bed after breakfast (having already slept ten hours) and sleep another six hours until lunch. No matter how much water I consumed I could not overcome the dry and metallic taste in my mouth so was very glad to rip off the patch when we arrived in Antarctica. For the return trip across the Drake I chose to pop a ‘Kwells’ tablet and keep my ginger levels up by drinking plenty of ginger ale as a precaution. This worked far better for me as I did not suffer side effects from the tablet. On future trips I would avoid scopolamine patches at all costs. I can’t complain however, many of the photographers on this trip were laid completely flat out by sea sickness and unable to even make lunch or the evening meal. I am sure they would have been very glad of just the side effects I suffered.

This trip to Antarctica was organised by Digital Photo Destinations; which is a combined joint effort between Seth Resnick and John Paul Caponigro. This was the maiden trip for DPD; which meant they were still finding their feet in respect to their own organisation of trip operations, lectures and logistics. This did not bother me as I had little interest in attending lectures aboard the ship and once in Antarctica I was more than happy to do my own thing. I preferred to spend my time shooting, sleeping and eating. I won’t expand on Digital Photo Destinations as tour organisers here – anyone who is interested in travelling with them who would like more information can email me.

My flights for this trip were with Qantas and Aerolineas Arengtina. I was fortunate to be travelling at the front of the aeroplane so to speak for the long haul sections of this trip from Melbourne to Buenos Aires and these flights were about as comfortable as fourteen hours in an aeroplane can be – not much more need be said. For my internal South American flights I travelled with Aerolineas; which proved the other end of the comfort scale. Firstly, I was more than annoyed to arrive at the airport in Buenos Aires to find that I had been bumped to a later flight after pre-booking and pre-paying a full eight months in advance. Aerolineas took an opportunity to resell my seat to a higher paying customer because of flight cancellations due to union issues (and sold to the public under the guise of volcanic ash fro the Chile volcano) – most annoying. Aerolineas also really need to do something about the quality of their inflight food. Powdered milk for coffee is not acceptable in my book under any circumstances (even UHT milk would have been better) and the less said about the ham and cheese roll the better. The internal flights from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia and back were also on old MD-88 jets; which are not my favourite passenger jet and always make me a little nervous. I was very glad to touch down both in Ushuaia and Buenos Aires and leave the Byzantine MD-88 behind. I did not have any luggage weight issues on any of my flights and was able to carry on both my 18+ kilogram Kiboko and my 5 kilogram Chobe without issue. I did see a couple of other photographers get nailed for being overweight with carry on luggage on the trip from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires. Aerolineas seem quite happy to randomly select and penalise those they take a dislike too. Personally I have always found a smile and a friendly hello goes a long way with airport check in staff; but your mileage may vary as they say.

If some of the above seem somewhat like nit-picks its because I really did not have any other issues the entire duration of the trip. All of my camera gear and computer equipment operated flawlessly and I never once found myself wishing for anything other than an assistant to hand me another lens or load a new CF card. One of these days I must get a travel assistant!

Antarctica has been a long time dream for me and this expedition was very much the trip of a lifetime. I mean how often does one get to travel with roughly 70 like minded enthusiastic photographers to one of the worlds last pristine wilderness locations on a trip dedicated to nothing but photography! As a photographer who has a passion for ice bergs there really is no location more appealing and it goes without saying that I can hardly wait to return (which I will most definitely be doing). They say you travel to Antarctica a tourist and come back an Ambassador and I think those words ring very true for me.

I am including a copy of the GPS track HERE from our expedition for those who are interested in exactly where we travelled (thank you to Seth for providing the GPS log). You will need an application like My Tracks from the App Store to be able to view it; or otherwise load it into your own GPS unit. I am also including a .XLS spreadsheet of the different wildlife we saw during the trip as a download HERE.

Whilst I don’t subscribe to the idea of new years resolutions; I do hope to try and post more regularly throughout 2012. I do have quite a lot of new content planned for the year as well as a lot of upcoming travel; which should provide plenty of fuel for the blog throughout the new year . I am still working on my 2011 Antarctica what worked and what didn’t article; and hope to have it finished in the next couple of days.

Lastly, Happy New Year to all of you and all the very best for 2012. May all your travels be safe and your photos be keepers!

Now, nearly a week on from returning I am finally feeling sufficiently recovered and ready to tackle to enormity of the editing and processing task that lies ahead of me. Antarctica was an absolute photo orgy of photography. Never before have I shot so many fames so intensely over so short a period with so many like minded photographers. If ever ones enthusiasm was starting to wane (and really how could it in Antarctica!) there was always a nearby photographer ready to re-inspire and re-enthuse. As I have already blogged; it may well be years before I have fully mined all of the gems from this remarkable photographic expedition. The only way to even begin to tackle this project is in bite sized chunks and to this end I have made a couple of very quick passes through my RAW captures and made a few initial selects for processing. I expect to spend many hours over the coming days / weeks and months editing in small ‘chunks’ to get down to my final selects from the trip.

This first photograph was one of only around a dozen images I shot from tripod during the entire trip. As a landscape photographer who is used to shooting from tripod it was a real change of pace (read: frenetic pace) to shoot from ship and zodiac handheld; where it is of course impossible to use a tripod. I enjoyed the freedom of shooting handheld (especially from zodiac); but there is something about using a tripod that I quite enjoy and occasionally missed.  Those few instances where I did have an opportunity to slow down and use my tripod during shore landings were greatly appreciated. The mere act of setting up a tripod, getting out a cable release and filters gives my mind a chance to slow down and think contemplatively about my photography. This was also one of the only photographs from the trip where I used the LEE ten-stop ‘Big-Stopper’ Neutral Density Filter to slow my shutter speed to sufficiently soften the water around the ice. I had thought I would make more use of this filter during shore landings on the continent; however, time ashore was limited and therefore so were long exposure opportunities – such is life.

To state the palette of colour in Antarctica is extensive and extraordinary is to fail to do justice to Mother Nature. Many of the icebergs are the most incredible surreal deep blues above water and the deepest darkest fluroescent greens below the waves. This small piece of water carved and polished ice was lying on polished pebbles in around a foot of crystal clear water on one of our early shore landings. Its form and structure immediately struck me and I new I had an opportunity to capture a photograph with a slow shutter speed that would be quite different from most iceberg photographs. Other than the slow shutter speed – you don’t need to suspend your disbelief. As those who attended this trip will attest; the colours in Antarctica are quite literally unbelievable and no embellishment is required in post processing. The wind would have been a good 30-40 knots when this photograph was taken and you can see large plums of spindrift coming off the distant mountain peaks across the channel.

Green Ice and Pebbles

A higher resolution version of this photograph can also be seen on my portfolio website under Antarctica at www.jholko.com. I am currently working on my ‘Antarctica what worked and what didn’t’ blog entry and hope to have that finished in the next week or so along with more of  my images from this remarkable trip. My friend Andy Biggs also has an extensive blog entry on this Antarctica expedition and Gura Gear (my number one camera bags of choice) – check it out at the Global Photographer and Gura Gear.

I had hoped I would get some time to update my blog during the expedition; however, the frantic pace of photography meant that any down time away from the cameras was spent either eating or sleeping. Any time awake was spent either cruising iceberg fields in a zodiac or in shore landings or in shooting from the deck of the ship as we moved from location to location. Gearing up and down for shore landings and zodiac cruising in Antarctica is quite the logistical exercise. Although the ambient air temperature was never really very cold (it never got below around -5 celsius air temperature) it was often bitterly cold with wind chill factor around -30 degrees Celsius. Multiple layers of clothes, waterproof shell, boots, life jacket and many pounds of camera gear makes getting into and out of pitching zodiacs somewhat tricky – especially when both the ship and zodiac are pitching in large swells. Shooting from zodiac is also tricky and it can be a real battle to keep cameras dry and operating in freezing weather/wind, snow and pervasive salt spray. On multiple occasions I had myself and cameras quite literally drenched in salt spray and sea water when shooting from zodiacs. It was necessary to meticulously clean all of my gear after each shoot to remove the salt spray. Thankfully my cameras and lenses never missed a beat – thanks to the rugged build quality and extreme weather sealing found in Canon’s 1-series cameras. Some of those shooting 5D MKII’s were not so lucky (or well prepared). Although I don’t have an official count of camera failures I am led to believe at least 3 5D MKII’s failed and another 5D MKII and 7D operated sporadically and seemingly at random. To my knowledge there were no issues with any of the medium format cameras in use (Including a couple of Hasselblads with Phase backs and a Pentax 645D). Andy Biggs’s Leica S2 likewise never missed a beat. Antarctica is without doubt the most hostile environment for photography I have ever experienced. The combination of extreme cold, salt water spray and dust (Antarctica is incredibly dry and dusty) will push any camera and photographer to their operational limits. With around 70 photographers on board and most of them sporting at least two DSLR bodies some camera failures were unfortunately inevitable.

We were extremely fortunate to have the renowned Russian captain Alexey for our expedition. Alexey (otherwise known as ‘The Secret Weapon’) was prepared to place the ship extremley close to some truly massive icebergs (ice the size of football fields) for photography as well as navigate ice pack fields and the ice chocked entrance to the Lemaire channel. Some of the icebergs we photographed were the size of a football field and thanks to some very skillful sailing I was able to shoot many of them with the Canon 17mm Tilt Shift lens from the deck of the ship as we glided slowly past. Captain Alexey even circled some of them several times to ensure we had the best angle for our photographs. Our ship the Ocean Nova is an ice hardened ship; which meant we could get closer to big ice and visit locations other ships could not reach. This was a real plus for all of the photographers on board. I would not have been able to capture some of the images I have come back with without such a skillful and experienced Captain. I took the opportunity on several occasions to visit the captains office (the bridge) and it was a real privilege to see him at work navigating the treacherous waters. The reality of this kind of sailing in Antarctica is that there is no coast guard and typically no other ship for hundreds of miles. One only has their own resources to hand if you get into trouble. One could quite easily gauge the Captain’s stress levels by his chain smoking speed and there were a few moments when there was one in the hand, one in the ash try and another ready to light. There is something quite surreal about standing outside the Captains bridge on the deck of the ship in a pristine wilderness with the smell of nicotine wafting down from the bridge. I tip my hat to captain Alexey for some truly remarkable sailing. The crew of the expedition (including the zodiac drivers) were likewise outstanding and extremely sympathetic to the neurotic needs of the many photographers to make ‘just one more pass’ around an iceberg. I will write more about my experience of shooting from zodiac and the Quark crew later. Suffice to say for now that they performed above and beyond my expectations in every way (and I consider myself a difficult photographer to please). The quality of the food aboard ship was equally outstanding and from everyone I spoke with aboard the ship was well above their expectations. I will again write more about this later (It really deserves its own journal entry).

The weather is fickle in Antarctica. Most of the trip was overcast with grey brooding skies, mist and dark clouds; which proved perfect for my style of photography. I find dark and moody skies highly evocative and the perfect back drop for photographing icebergs (my favorite photographic subjects). We also had quite a lot of snowfall during the trip; which added to the drama of the scene (and also increased the complexity of keeping cameras operating). Whilst it was nice to see the sun on the last full day in Antarctica it made photography more problematic with a much wider dynamic range; which created more of a challenge to isolate the subject from busy backgrounds. I feel fortunate to have experienced Antarctica in its natural state as for much of the year the continent is shrouded in cloud, fog and mist. Bright sunny days are not suited to my style of photography. Although the ice can look truly brilliant in sunshine I find it lacks the brooding moody feeling I am trying to capture and convey in my photography. We did not get any blazing surises or sunsets during the trip due to the overcast conditions. In fact, we rarely saw the sun period despite the fact it never really got dark. One could easily read a newspaper between the short hours of sunset and sunrise. Sunset was around 11:30pm and sunrise around 2:30am.

What about the Drake?

We were somewhat fortunate (fortunate is probably the wrong word) with our crossing of the Drake Passage to have relatively average seas. Our two-day sailing journey to Antarctica from Ushuaia saw us encounter swells in the order of 20-30 feet (with the odd larger rogue topping out at close to 40 feet) with the ship pitching around 30-40 degrees (15-20 degrees to starboard and then 15-20 degrees back to Port). I am told this is an average crossing and not extreme by Drake standards. The constant large swells took their toll on the group however with somewhere around 25% of the photographers on board going down with chronic seasickness for most of the crossing. A few particularly badly affected individuals did not re-surface until we reached the calmer waters of the continent. Those that managed to stumble from their cabins now and again looked more than a little green around the gills. I was fortunate to avoid any seasickness; although I have felt somewhat dehydrated the entire trip due to the sea sickness prevention patches I used. I am not sure if the cure is worse than the disease when it comes to seasickness medication. It makes one very drowsy and dehydrated. Although I have never been sea sick before I decided a preventative patch would be a good idea just in case. On our return crossing we were greeted with some truly massive seas as we entered the Drake Passage – the biggest swells I have ever experienced. Watching the breakers smash into the rocky islands as we sailed out into the Drake and throw spray a hundred feet into the air was awesome in the true sense of the word. The massive swells quickly took their toll on our expedition members and many disappeared into their cabins in an effort to minimise sea sickness.

In terms of photography, I shot a total of 13,481 images over the course of the ten-day expedition. My heaviest days shooting was a total of 3143 images and my lightest 481. I did not bracket my exposures as I was comfortable dialing in exposure compensation on the fly. I am used to looking at the cameras histogram to ensure I have a good exposure that is well exposed to the right. In fact, exposure and dynamic range were really quite easy to deal with in the overcast conditions (nature’s soft box). Most of the time I was dialled in around +1 and 1/3rd stops.  I also took an opportunity to shoot with the Leica S2 bought along by Gura Gear’s Andy Biggs during one iceberg shoot (thanks Andy!). I will write more on my experiences with the Leica later. There were also some wonderful wildlife photographic opportunities throughout the trip and I will likewise write more about these at a later stage as I process and release my wildlife photographs. For now I will simply comment that Penguins are wonderfully whimsical critters and I enjoyed photographing them very much.

I very much enjoyed shooting alongside my friend Martyn again and it was great fun to compare notes at the end of each days shooting with other photographers over dinner. It never ceases to amaze me that a large group of photographers can visit the same location yet all come away with such different images and interpretations – truly remarkable. I should also note that Link with whom Martyn and I shared a cabin proved a perfect room mate. Thank you to both Martyn and Link for making the trip such a successful and enjoyable experience.

Now I have many weeks of, sorting, editing, ranking and processing in front of me. It may well be years before I have mined all the gems from this remarkable photographic expedition. I am still compiling my thoughts and feelings about Antarctica and will no doubt write much more in due course about all aspects of the trip after due contemplation and reflection. Although I am very keen to start sharing my images from Antarctica I am mindful of my need to spend some time contemplating my photographs before I begin to release my serious work. Until then I just want to share a few snapshots that I hope will convey some of the feeling of what this trip was like. This first photograph I feel conveys the feeling of what it was like to photograph from the zodiacs amidst the icebergs. Believe it or not this photograph has been processed with absolutely zero vibrance or saturation and is as straight a photograph as digital allows – these are the real natural colours of Antarctica. This should also help give a sense of scale. A zodiac is very small protection in Antarctica and I hope this photography also conveys some sense of the environment.

Zodiac Cruising in Antarctica

I hope to go back to Antarctica one day if time and logistics allow. I feel that I could spend a year or more down there with my cameras and barely scratch the potential photographic possibilities. As a photographer who has a passion for ice the possibilities in Antarctica are quite literally limitless. For several photographers on board this was their second, third or even fourth trip to Antarctica and now having experienced the raw beauty of the continent myself I can fully understand the addiction. I will most definately be back.

I will be writing up a post over the coming days/weeks about what worked and what didn’t (much as I did for my Iceland trip last year) as well as many more thoughts and moments from the trip. But for now I am keen to get home from Buenos Aires and to take some time to reflect and consider my work.

I will up date the photo of the month for December later this month when I release the first of my Antarctic images.

Ushuaia is packed with outdoor clothing shops which means there have been plenty of opportunities to stock up on last minute clothing items before we depart; which many of the other participants have been taking advantage of. I pretty much bought everything I need with me knowing that there was unfortunately no 66 North (my preferred brand of outdoor clothing) store in South America. The photographic opportunities in Ushuaia have also been wonderful and I took the opportunity yesterday morning to charter a helicopter early in the morning for a flight over the Andes mountains (absolutely spectacular and stunning scenery).

The climate in Ushuaia has been much more to my liking than that in Buenos Aires and although I would not describe it as cold it is certainly a tad to cool for walking around in a t-shirt – ‘perfect climbing weather’ as Clint Eastwood would say (excerpt from the Movie The Eiger Sanction). The wind is up at the moment and it looks like the crossing will be quite exciting.

After we get through all of the required room allocation, life boat drills and general settling in time I am hoping to be able to do some photography from the deck of the ship as we sail out of the harbour. I am told there are quite a lot of wildlife opportunities and I have seen some impressive postcards of the Cape.

That is me done for the next ten days or so until we return from Antarctica. With no internet access and only satellite phone for communication with the rest of the world there will be no more up dates until I get back to Ushuaia. Time permitting I will write up a few posts over the next ten days and post them as a sort of journal when I get back.

I can hear the final call now for those leaving aboard the Ocean Nova so its time to slap on a sea sickness patch (just in case) and sign off. See you in ten days…

If I am to be politically correct I have mixed feelings about Buenos Aires as a city. I far prefer to spend my time out in the wilderness amongst waterfalls, glaciers and mountains so my opinion of any city is always going to present somewhat in the negative. The poverty in many parts of Bueons Aires is extreme by Australian standards. This was particularly evident in the more seedy areas around La Bocca. One only has to wander down a side street away from the tourist hot spots to feel quite isolated and unsafe (at least that is how it felt to me). The city is extremely run down and dirty by Australian standards. Combined with the dense population and usual city grime and I find myself yearning for nature’s unspoilt wilderness. Its not hard to see why Melbourne is the worlds most liveable city.

Don't Jump at La Bocca!

]]> http://blog.jholko.com/2011/11/26/antarctica-dispatch-4-leaving-for-ushuaia/feed/ 0 JHolko 20111126-IMG_1221 http://blog.jholko.com/2011/11/25/antarctica-dispatch-3-buenos-aires-cementario-de-recoleta/ http://blog.jholko.com/2011/11/25/antarctica-dispatch-3-buenos-aires-cementario-de-recoleta/#comments Thu, 24 Nov 2011 20:04:09 +0000 jholko http://blog.jholko.com/?p=4417 ]]> Martyn and I managed to find our way over to the Cementario De Recoleta early this afternoon where we spent some time wandering amongst the maze of ancient crypts and tombs before settling into a nearby cafe in the shade for a cold drink and a spot of lunch. Its quite hot and humid today in Buenos Aires (33 degrees celsius) and I was well and truly ready for a beer and seat in the shade after a couple of hours in the sun. The Cementario de Recoleta is a fascinating location and I could easily spend hours and hours photographing in and around the multitude of decrypit crypts and statues that make up this cemetery. The Cementario de Recoleta is one of those locations that would be just wonderful to photograph with rain and or mist / fog. As it was we had to make do with brilliant sunshine on a cloudless day – hence the focus on detail and not the big picture. As is often the case with these things there is immense pleasure to be found in the detail; although the myriad of walkways amidst the grand crypts are incredibly impressive and awe inspiring. This was the first time I have pulled my camera out of the bag (just the S90 Point and Shoot) since I arrived in Buenos Aires and it feels good to have a few shots ‘in the can’. Although this is not the sort of photography I pursue on a regular basis it was very enjoyable and it felt good to start exercising the shutter finger and get my mind into a more creative frame of mind.

The Candelabra

La Rose et la Vampire

Family Ghost

The journey over from Australia was uneventful and I was thankfully able to break the back of the long haul flight with a good six hour sleep – yes, a few scotches helped. I was treated to an absolutely superlative view (thanks to clear skies) of the snow capped Andes mountain range as we crossed into South America from the window of the plane. The Andes would rate as one of the most spectacular mountain ranges I have ever laid eyes on – absolutely beautiful and stretching as far as they eye could see. With any luck I should get another view of them on the flight to Ushuaia if the weather stays clear.

For now, its time for some breakfast and just a small amount of local culture…

I am going to do my best to keep my blog up-to-date throughout the trip; however, once we board the Ocean Nova and set sail for Antarctica there will be no internet access and updates will have to be posted when we get back to Ushuaia at the conclusion of the trip. Although Antarctica is well and truly the primary focus of this trip I am also looking forward to spending a couple of days in Buenos Aires with my good friend Martyn before we head south to the small town of Ushuaia at the bottom of South America. From Ushuaia we sail for Antarctica. I am not at all prone to sea sickness and to date have never suffered from any kind of motion sickness. Nevertheless I am taking no chances in the wilds of the Drake passage and am packing patches and tablets just in case. The only time I plan to be leaning over the side of the ship is to take photographs – not to loose my lunch.

I have had a lot of time to consider what photographic equipment to take me with on this trip and if you have been following my blog you will have probably noticed that I was pretty much considering taking ‘everything’. Nothings changed – I have packed every piece of glass and camera in my arsenal lest I find myself in a situation where I want and need, but don’t have. It means I am schlepping some considerable weight and bulk in camera equipment through airports etc.; but once I get onto the ship I can pretty much unload and take what I feel I need on individual zodiac and shore excursions. It should be very exciting and I have all fingers and toes crossed for some amazing Antarctic light. See you in Buenos Aires in a day or so…

Unfortunately I will be unable to attend the opening as I am headed to Antarctica early next week on a three week photographic expedition; however, I am looking forward to visiting and seeing the accompanying shows when I get back at the end of the year. If you manage to visit the gallery please drop me a line and let me know if you enjoyed it! There are special room rates available at the Chalet – contact reception for details 03 6492 1404. The exhibition will also be coming to Melbourne early in the new year 2012 for a strictly limited time.

Invitation

‘Well of Life’ was a finalist earlier this year in the World Extreme Environment Awards (Blue Berg won the People’s Choice Award in this competition) and won a coveted and prestigious Silver Award at the 2011 Australian Professional Photography Awards (APPA) in the Landscape Non-Composite Category. The APPA awards are widely regarded as the toughest international photography competition out there and winning Silver with this photograph (which was judged in print) was a great honour. Winning Gold at the Loupe Awards this year is the icing on the very sweet cake.

The three other photographs I had entered into the Loupe Awards in the Open Landscape Category this year also received Highly Commended Bronze Awards including ‘Walls of China‘, ‘Molten Silver Torrent‘ and ‘Highway To Hell‘. ‘Highway To Hell’ has also previously been rewarded with Silver at the 2011 APPA awards and Travel Photograph of the Week at National Geographic. All in all this is a haul of awards I am delighted to hang over the proverbial mantle.

This photograph – titled ‘The Castle’, was taken near the summit of one of the highest mountains in the area. Ejected lava has piled up on one of the rhyolite mountains and then eroded away under the assault of the arctic winds.

The Castle

B&W + Color magazine  is published in over fifty countries and is a highly respected photographic journal featuring fine art photography from international artists. Issue #87 including my Spotlight Portfolio can be purchased at all major book sellers and newsstands as well as online via B&W + Color magazine’s website. Please drop me a line and let me know if you enjoyed it.

Reminder – Registrations are now open for the 2013 Iceland Workshop and places are strictly limited on a first come, first served basis. Be sure to drop me an email if you are interested in attending as there are only a few places left.