Capture Magazine the Annual 2014 Features Epic Sense of Scale

I am fortunate to be enjoying a few days down time in Ushuaia at the bottom of South America at the moment before I head back down to Antarctica for one more expedition before Christmas. I have been catching up on a plethora of email and web correspondence as well as enjoying some good coffee at my favourite South American cafe: ‘Ramos’ (and letting my legs recover after a weeks hiking in Patagonia – more to come on Patagonia at a later date). If you ever find yourself in Ushuaia be sure to stop in at Ramos – the rustic charm is as as inviting as the coffee aroma.

Whilst I was in Patagonia the annual edition Capture magazine was released and I was pleased to subsequently find one of my photographs ‘An Epic Sense of Scale‘ was featured. This is the third year in a row I have been fortunate to have some of my photography featured in the annual and it is always a pleasant surprise to flick through a magazine and see your work in print.Capture2014Annual

Travel Photographer of the Year Finalist 2014

It was a pleasant surprise to receive an email on docking back in Ushuaia a few days ago after twenty-one days in South Georgia and Antarctica that several of my photographs have been selected for the final round of judging in the 2014 International Travel Photographer of the Year competition. I took third place and  was highly commended in the Single-Shot Water Category in 2012 with the ‘Blue Berg’ photograph from the Jökulsarlon lagoon in Iceland and this is now the third year in a row I have made the finals of this competition. This year I have photographs in the finals in the Earth, Air, Fire, Water Portfolio category (four photographs), Spirit of Adventure Portfolio (four photographs), and the Wild and Vibrant Single Shot category. As final judging has not yet taken place I am unable to share the photographs at this point, but will do so once judging is complete.TPOTY 2014 finalistBlue-BergI am continually inspired to enter the Travel Photographer of the Year competition as it is one of the few photographic competitions remaining today that still judge the ‘print’ rather than a compressed jpeg. I wrote a couple of years ago of my disillusionment with so many of the photography competitions that make their judgements solely on a compressed jpeg file. The craft of producing a beautiful fine art print is one of the most enjoyable aspects of photography for me and is how I prefer to have my work viewed.

Antarctica and South Georgia Island 2014 Expedition Complete

Andy Biggs and I have now wrapped up our twenty one day South Georgia Island and Antarctica photography expedition.  We docked yesterday in Ushuaia after experiencing some of the most incredible polar landscapes and wildlife experiences of my photographic career. It was a unique experience and an absolute joy and pleasure to share it with so many other passionate and keen photographers. I recall something renowned photographer Art Wolfe once said – “If you can only visit one place in the world for wildlife photography it should be South Georgia Island”. He was most definitely right. From what I have already seen from those aboard there were some incredible photographs created during this voyage. No doubt, more will emerge over the coming weeks and months as everyone gets a chance to sort through the plethora of images we made during this expedition. Our ship was abuzz with excitement during our voyage and the recounting of our daily experiences over the evening meal that included everything from wildlife encounters to talk of dramatic landscapes, weather, photography and myriad of other topics made the whole shared experience simply wonderful.SouthGeorgiaThis brief post is not intended to be a full trip report as that will come later once I have had a chance to fully digest our experiences and sort and process a few more of the many thousands of photographs I made during this voyage. After twenty one days of pretty much non stop landscape and wildlife photography my cameras and lenses are smoking and my shot count well in excess of seven thousand images – including many underwater and split (half above / half below) photographs thanks to Aquatech who kindly provided sponsorship equipment for this expedition. It is going to take me a long time to sort and edit the photographs from this expedition, but I do hope to publish a few images when I get home just before Christmas. On top of that, my good friend and fellow photographer Antony Watson was tasked with shooting video for the duration of the expedition and we hope to cobble that together into a short movie of our experiences to be shared at a later date.For now, Antony, Martyn, Louisa and I have a day to rest and recover in Ushuaia before we fly out for ten days trekking and photography on the Argentinean side of Patagonia. The last time I visited Patagonia a year ago with my my friend and fellow photographer Martyn Lucas we experienced horrendous winds for six out of the seven days we were in the park and photography was more or less impossible. We have high hopes for better conditions this time. It will certainly be very nice to stretch the legs with some long hikes in the Patagonian back country after twenty one days of being at sea.Zodiac CruisingJust by way of a small teaser announcement for a future expedition: Once I finish in Patagonia I will return to Ushuaia for one more Antarctic expedition this season to the Peninsula with my friend Antony before I fly home in time for Christmas. I will be home for just over a week before I will return to Antarctica at the end of the year for a scouting trip to photograph Emperor Penguins in a very remote region of Antarctica. This scouting trip is something I have been working on for more than a year now and it is my hope that this test trip will result in a future photographic expedition to photograph the world’s largest and most majestic penguin – The mighty Emperor.

Arrived in Ushuaia South America – Antarctica Bound!

After more than two days of constant travel, including five separate plane rides, I have now arrived in Ushuaia South America – the most permanent southerly settlement in the world. It is somewhat surreal for me to be back in Ushuaia and headed for South Georgia Island and Antarctica after being high in the Arctic and only 600 miles from the North Pole only a couple of months ago. This is not the first time I will have visited both the Arctic and Antarctic in a single year, but it is the closest in terms of time difference. It is fantastic to have arrived in Ushuaia in the middle of quite a steady snowfall and the Andes Mountain Range looks absolutely spectacular in fresh snow.The AndesAs I have previously written, Ushuaia itself is a wonderful town with some great restaurants, shops and cafe’s and it has been fantastic to meet up with both old friends with whom I have had the pleasure of travelling with many times now, but also new friends who will be experiencing the magnificence of the Great White Continent for the very first time. In some ways I envy those travelling for their first time to Antarctica. Seeing Antarctica for the very first time is an awe inspiring experience and photographing it with fresh eyes is something you only ever get to do once. I always get a huge thrill from the visceral and palpable air of excitement first time and repeat visitors radiate as they board the ship and we throw off our lines and sail down the Beagle Channel. I am very much looking forward to our experiences ahead and sharing everything we discover.

This will be my last ‘in person’ post now (I have a few automated posts scheduled) for at least the next twenty one days as we sail from Ushuaia, to the Falklands, South Georgia Island and then Antarctica. I do have a few posts automated for my time away and I hope to post an update on what our expedition was like after we dock back in Ushuaia on the 22nd of November and before I head to Patagonia on further travels. Until then, Bon Voyage.

Photo Review Magazine – Ice Work and Cover Photograph December / February Issue

The new December / February issue of Photo Review ‘Inspiring Australian Photographers’, will soon go on sale and includes a feature article ‘Ice Work‘ on my polar photography as well as one of my recent photographs from Antarctica on the cover. The cover shot was taken last November during a photographic expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula and is of a Gentoo Penguin calling its mate during a heavy snow fall. I cannot recall the exact location I took this image as we visited so many different islands, coves and bays during our two weeks visiting and photographing in Antarctica. It was shot with a Canon EOS 1DX and the new Canon 200-400mm F4L IS lens with inbuilt 1.4 Teleconverter. I was able to create a more intimate and evocative photograph by lying down in the snow in order to be at eye level with the subject. The heavy snowfall was a bonus and this really adds to the atmosphere and interest of the photograph for me. Scoring the cover of a magazine is always a huge thrill. Magazines rarely  advise you prior to publication that you have made the cover so it is always a wonderful surprise to see the issue for the first time. You can click on the image below to download the full article or HERE to download as a PDF. Photo Review is available in both print as well as digital editions for the iPad or PDF for other electronic readers.PhotoReview-CoverIt is less than ten days now until I head back to Antarctica for two back-to-back expeditions to South Georgia Island and Antarctica. The excitement of heading to one of the world’s most remote and magnificent destinations for photography is as strong for me now as it was with my very first visit and I am really excited to share these expeditions and the majesty of Antarctica with all aboard. I still have many loose ends to tie up before I board that first plane for the long haul to South America in a weeks time – not the least of which is the traditional packing list blog post. I hope to have this finalised in the next few days.