In my Wild Nature Photography Podcast’s latest season (season 4) for 2024, I wrap up my just completed January Pallas Cat expedition to Mongolia’s eastern Steppe region in Winter. I will have a full written trip report on this expedition in the next few days, along with some photographs, but I wanted to get my initial thoughts down in a podcast while they are still fresh in my mind (2023 Trip Report). I will be returning again to the far east of Mongolia to lead a workshop to photograph these amazing cats in January of 2025. The expedition will run from January 4th to January 10th 2025, and is for those photographers looking to get out into the wilderness to photograph these incredible felines. Drop me an email if you would like more information.

The first photograph of the month for 2024 (January) comes from my recent 2023 Antarctica Return to the White Continent Expedition (Read the Trip Report) and is of a group of Adelie Penguins riding a beautiful iceberg under heavy, overcast skies in the Weddell Sea region of Antarctica. What makes this photograph so evocative is the combination of the soft, heavy clouds, still dark waters and luminesce ice under the water. Of course, the penguins provide the much-needed sense of scale. These sorts of opportunities are the stuff dreams are made of on any Antarctic expedition. Photographed from Zodiac, the illusion of height was created by standing up on the bow box of the Zodiac and using an ultra-wide-angle zoom lens (RF 14-35mm F4L IS) at 14mm held up high over my head. This perspective enhances the glow of the ice under the water and adds a lot of depth to the photograph. This is a technique I have used extensively when photographing icebergs.

We are off and running in 2024, and as soon as I finish this post, I am jumping in the car (sun is not up here yet) and heading to the airport for the international flights to Mongolia for my Winter Pallas Cat expedition. I am told that this is a heavy snow year in the Steppe region of Mongolia and I am really excited to be heading back to this incredible country to find and photograph the Pallas cat in winter conditions. There are still a couple of places left on my 2025 winter expedition to photograph this incredible wild cat. The Steppe region of Eastern Mongolia is the best place in the world to currently find and photograph this stunning, rare and photogenic feline. Drop me an email for details or to register your interest.