I recently returned from my 2013 photography expedition to Antarctica and have started to edit and process the images I shot during this remarkable trip. I will have a full report on this expedition over the coming days here on my blog but wanted to share this photograph from the Lemaire Channel in Antarctica as my photograph of the month for November. The Lemaire Channel experience on this expedition was nothing short of breathtaking with incredible reflections in the dark still Antarctic waters. This was our longest day of shooting during the trip and saw us rise before 4am and shoot through until well after midnight. The conditions on arrival at the entrance to the Lemaire were anything but ideal. Low cloud and clagged in conditions had me more than concerned as the sun began to rise. Then as if someone flicked a light-switch the cloud lifted and we were greeted to an incredible experience as we glided through the Lemaire Channel where we were treated to an incredible photographic display of light and reflection. To top it off we took the 2013 honours as the first ship of the season to navigate this amazing passage of water. A higher resolution copy of this photograph can be seen on my website at www.jholko.com
Category: Antarctica
Finalist: Natures Best Photography & Travel Photographer of the Year 2013
I returned home a couple of days ago from an expedition I lead to Antarctica with my friend Daniel Bergmann and am starting to catch up on all of the missed correspondence whilst I was off the grid. I will have a lot more to say about the Antarctica expedition over the coming weeks as this was an extraordinary trip with some of the best weather and light I have experienced in this part of the world – including an absolutely incredible journey through the Lemaire Channel. In the meantime, I was very pleased to learn that two of my photographs were selected as finalists in Natures Best Photography and another in the Travel Photographer of the Year competition. This is the second time I have had images in the finals in both Nature’s Best Photography and Travel Photographer of the Year and am honoured to have had my photographs selected. The overall winners for Natures Best Photography have already been selected and can be seen on the Natures Best Photography website. Travel photographer of the Year is still in its last round of judging and final winners should be announced in a few days time. 
Finalist – Natures Best Photography 2013: Landscape Category
Finalist Natures Best Photography 2013: Landscape Category
Finalist Travel Photographer of the Year: Single Shot Extraordinary Image Category
Photographers South Georgia Island and Antarctic 2014 Polar Photography Expedition
I am very excited to announce that after months of organisation and planning Andy Biggs and I are now opening bookings for a brand new and very exciting photography expedition to South Georgia Island and Antarctica. This twenty day (yes, 20 days!) photography expedition will depart Ushuaia in South America on the 3rd of November 2014 has been designed to provide the definitive South Georgia Island photography experience. We will cross the Drake Passage where we will spend time photographing amazing icebergs and the spectacular Antarctic Peninsula. We will visit Elephant Island, home to twenty two of Shackleton’s men for four months. We will then enter the Scotia Sea detouring to the remote and rarely visited mountainous South Orkney Islands. We will zodiac cruise through a maze of icebergs before landing ashore on a beach bedecked with penguins, seals and lichen encrusted boulders. This location alone promises fantastic wildlife and landscape opportunities. We will then continue across the Scotia sea bound for South Georgia Island where we will see and photograph the world’s largest King Penguin rookeries, majestic albatross nests, seals and a plethora of bird life. Kelp strewn beaches are cluttered with basking elephant seals, feisty fur seals and hundreds of penguins that will prove a wildlife photographers dream. Stromness and Grytviken harbour 3000 metre rocky peaks that rise up from the ocean to form amazing backdrops to the remains of whaling stations that will fulfil every landscape shooters wishes for dramatic landscape. South Georgia’s remote, untamed landscape is simply stunning. Scattered across the mighty Southern Ocean, the tiny arc of windswept islands and harbours are some of the world’s greatest wildlife sanctuaries set against world class landscapes. Famed for its abandoned whaling stations and Shackleton’s heroic journey, South Georgia is home to literally millions of fur seals and penguins, wallows of elephant seals, and nesting albatross. After we finish photographing in this breathtaking area we will sail back to Ushuaia where we will dock on the 22nd of November and conclude our once in a lifetime expedition.
Andy, and I wanted to put together a dedicated photography expedition to both Antarctica and South Georgia Island that really gave photographers the best possible opportunity to photograph big icebergs, and amazing wildlife. We wanted to ensure sufficient time in both Antarctica and South Georgia Island so this is a brand new itinerary that has been planned from the ground up to really maximise the opportunities for photography. We have specifically timed our expedition early in the season in order to give us the best opportunities for plenty of icebergs as well as wildlife at South Georgia Island. The ice and snow at South Georgia island will be pristine and as yet unvisited by man after the Antarctic winter. If you can only travel to Antarctica and South Georgia Island once in your life for photography then this is most definitely the trip you want to be on.
KEY FEATURES
- Dates : 3rd of November 2014 to the 22nd of November 2014 : 20 days / 19 nights
- Ship : Ice Hardened Expedition Class Ship ‘Polar Pioneer’ Regarded by many as the best vessel for polar photography for its ability to get really close to big ice and ample deck space for photography.
- Leaders : Andy Biggs, Joshua Holko
- Dedicated to Wildlife and Landscape Photography
If you would like to register your interest to secure a place on this trip you can email Andy or I at andybiggs@andybiggs.com or info@jholko.com. Places are very limited on this trip and given the unique nature of this expedition we do expect to sell out quickly. Due to early expressions of interest the Captains Suite and Mini Suites are already sold out and there are only limited twin private and twin share rooms remaining. We have the entire vessel so this trip is solely for photographers and is 100% dedicated to both landscape and wildlife photography. Places are booked strictly on a first come first served basis. Additional information and a detailed itinerary can be downloaded from my website at www.jholko.com
Packing for Antarctica 2013
As has become traditional I like to write up a packing list entry before I leave for an overseas workshop or expedition. This time I am heading back to Antarctica to lead a photography expedition with my friend Daniel Bergmann. Our expedition departs from Ushuaia on the 9th of November and we will be sailing across the Drake Passage to Antarctica where we will explore the Peninsula in an ice hardened expedition class ship – Polar Pioneer. We then sail across to the Falkland Islands and conclude our trip on the 23rd of November. I will be staying on in South America and heading to Patagonia for a week on a personal trip afterward so will be packing for both ship and shore photography. I am more or less packing the same equipment I took to Iceland, Svalbard and Greenland in July and August this year although I have decided to leave my 24mm TSE lens at home this time to save a little bit of weight. As much as I really enjoy shooting with this lens its focal length is already covered in the excellent 24-70mm F2.8L MKII. Additionally, much of the photography in Antarctica is from ship and zodiac without a tripod. Although I can hand hold this lens and still make tilt and shift adjustments it is somewhat awkward to do so on a zodiac and I have found from experience that I end up not using it when shooting from ships.
I had planned to upgrade my Macbook Pro to the new Retina model when it was announced this month in time for this Antarctica expedition but decided in hindsight it was an unnecessary upgrade and will continue with my current machine. There are significant weight savings in the new model (as well as the much improved retina display) however these advantages come at a significant cost and make little sense for the purpose I currently use the machine. You can read my thoughts on the subject in my post: Why I am Ditching the Macbook Pro Line. I will be doing a follow up post in the coming weeks with my thoughts on the new Mac Pro now that I have had time to fully look into the specifications. Suffice to say for now that the new Mac Pro is really optimised for 4k video editing and contains GPU’s that are simply massive overkill for still photography production.
The Canon 1DX will be my primary camera of choice for this trip. I will also carry my original 1DS MK3 as a back-up in the unlikely event of a failure. I will also carry a number of spare batteries so that I can cycle them in and out of warm pockets. Experience has shown me that I can pretty much go an entire day without a battery change but I like to have spares on hand just in case.
Gura Gear Bataflae 32L: (carry on luggage)
- Canon EOS 1DX Pro Body Camera
- Canon EOS 1DS MK3 Pro Body Camera
- Sigma 15mm Fish Eye Lens (I have some specific shots in mind for this specialist lens)
- Canon 17mm F4L TSE Lens
- Canon 24-70mm F2.8L MKII Lens (The MKII version of this lens is an amazing piece of glass)
- Canon 70-200mm F2.8L IS Lens
- Canon 200-400mm F4L IS Lens with inbuilt 1.4 TC (Watch the Unboxing Video)
- 4 x Spare Batteries for the Canon Cameras
- 1 x Macro Extension Tube
- Cable Release and Bubble Level
- Assorted CF and SD Cards totalling around 100 Gigabytes
- Rocket Blower and Dust Cleaning paraphernalia
- Complete LEE Foundation and Filter Kit with Soft and Hard ND Graduated filters and LEE Polariser – includes a custom made adapter for the Canon 17mm TSE Lens
Gura Gear Chobe Bag: (carry on luggage)
- 15″ Macbook Pro with Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CS6 with the Nik Plugin suite
- MacBook Power Adapter
- 2 x 1TB iOmega dual firewire 800 Hard Drives (for dual in the field image back up)
- Various Power Adapters / Chargers and Associated Cables
- Canon 1DX / 1DS MK3 Battery Charger
- iPad Mini (e-books and movies for the long flights)
- Firewire 800 CF Reader
- Passport / iPhone / Wallet
- A lot of these items I store inside Gura Gear Etcetera cases inside the Chobe. (These cases are fabulous for organising accessories)
North Face Thunder Rolling Duffle: (checked luggage)
- Arctic Sport Muck Boots (For use in the zodiacs in Antarctica)
- 66º North Wet and Cold Weather Outer Shells
- Base Layers
- Mid Layers – Trekking Pants and Tops
- Gloves and Hat
- Miscellaneous clothes
- Personal items and toiletries – including Sunscreen (The Ozone layer is extremely thin in the Poles and it is very easy to get sun burned in minutes)
Tripod: (checked luggage)
- Really Right TVC24L Tripod
- Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ball Head
- Really Right Stuff Tripod Spikes (For mossy ground and rock claws for ice and rock)
- Jobo Jnr. Deluxe Gimbal Head with Really Right Stuff Dovetail Base Plate
X-Rite Photo Webinar : Processing Images with Ice and Snow
Earlier this year I did a free Webinar with X-Rite and Nik Software on how I process photographs with Ice and Snow. The webinar covered my own personal workflow for working with images that contain snow and Ice to really get the most from them. I discussed my use of the X-Rite Colour Checker Passport as well as how I implement the Nik Software Plug ins into my workflow. You can download a copy of the Webinar directly from X-Rite’s archives HERE.
I will be doing a follow up Webinar with X-Rite and Moab paper on processing ice and snow images later this month on the 25th of September at 7pm EDT. In this new Webinar I will give more examples of how I utilise the colour checker passport in my workflow and how I process my own photographs to really maximise the texture and tone in the ice and snow. I will also talk briefly about printing images with ice and snow and the importance of paper selection to match the photograph. You can Register Online and the Webinar is free. Due to bandwidth limitations between Australia and the USA I will be pre-recording the Webinar, but will be online during its presentation to answer any questions or queries.
Edit – In case you have stumbled across this page with a search – you can view an archive of the webinar HERE
www.WILDNATUREPHOTOTRAVEL.com 