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.
This 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.
Just 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.
Category: South Georgia
2015 South Georgia Island Photography Expedition Announcement
I am very excited to formally announce that I will be leading a new fifteen day photographic expedition to South Georgia Island in November 2015 with my good friend and talented Nature Photographer Ole Jorgen. It seems somewhat fitting to have scheduled this new expedition announcement to coincide with my being in South Georgia at present and in the middle of a twenty one day expedition to both South Georgia and Antarctica. The 2015 expedition is going to be very different to the trip I am currently undertaking and will hone its focus and specialise solely on South Georgia Island. I have heard it said “If you can only photograph wildlife once in your life make sure its South Georgia Island“. I have to say I am in total agreement with that statement. South Georgia Island is a wildlife photographers paradise. There is absolutely nothing that prepares you for the enormity of the landscape or the miracle of the abundant wildlife. This is indeed a place where you are likely to only put down your camera when your finger is so tired you can no longer press the shutter and you can no longer see for the smoking cameras. It is an absolute photographic mecca and a true experience of a lifetime. My friend and fellow photographer Antony and I are currently shooting some video in South Georgia and we hope to share some our experiences with video on our return.
This fifteen day photography expedition will depart from the Falkland Islands on the 7th of November 2015 and is singularly focused on providing the definitive South Georgia Island photography experience. We have arranged permits for an extended stay in South Georgia that will allow us not less than ten days of photography (compared to the usual 48 hours only) at this incredible location. Best of all we have timed our expedition with the breeding season for the Penguins, Albatross and Seals. At this time there will be a lot of activity in the colonies and lots of action to photograph. We will sail from the Falkland Islands (the closest port) directly to South Georgia Island where we will zodiac cruise through a maze of icebergs before landing ashore on a beach bedecked with penguins, seals and lichen encrusted boulders. South Georgia Island promises fantastic wildlife and landscape opportunities. 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 the Falkland Islands where we will dock on the 21st of November and conclude this photographic expedition. For those who are keen there is a one-week extension for dedicated Bird photography in the Falkland Islands at the conclusion of the expedition. The extension is limited to just four photographers. EDIT – Please note the Falkland Islands Extension is already SOLD OUT.
This photograph of King Penguins was taken by my good friend Ole Jorgen on a previous expedition to South Georgia Island.
The expedition is for a strictly limited number of 52 participants plus leaders and expedition guide. We will be using an ice hardened expedition ship that will enable us to get into the best possible locations. Our expedition ship the ‘Polar Pioneer’ is equipped with sufficient zodiacs and crew for all photographers to be shooting simultaneously with plenty of room to spare for camera equipment – So bring what you need! Due to prior expressions of interest and bookings there are now only two places remaining out of the original 54 that were available before this expedition will be sold out. If you would like to reserve one of the two remaining places or would like further information you can download a detailed itinerary and PDF flyer HERE or drop me an email and I will get back to you when we dock back in Ushuaia later this month. Please note that once these last two places are spoken for thats it.
November Photograph of the Month: Penguin Love
It feels appropriate to post up a Penguin photograph as the image of the month for November as I am currently making my way from Australia to Ushuaia in South America in preparation for two back-to-back expeditions to South Georgia Island and Antarctica. This photograph was taken at Petermann Island in Antarctica in November last year during a fourteen day expedition. Shot near midnight we had been photographing pretty much non stop for more than twenty four hours. This was one of the last images I made that day of a male and female Penguin watching the Antarctic sunset. It was an interesting decision how to expose this shot and in the end I elected to go for more of a silhouette look and let the Penguins go quite dark. The Penguin shape is so distinctive as to be instantly recognisable irrespective of detail. I probably shot two or three dozen different frames of this scene as the Penguins moved around – but it is this one with the outstretched flippers from the male and with the female looking up at him that really worked for me.
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.
As 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.
Leaving for South America, South Georgia Island and Antarctica
The last few weeks have been a a complete blur for me and it is hard to believe it has already been six weeks since I returned home from Iceland, Greenland and Svalbard. The time has just absolutely flown past and I feel I have really not made much forward progress on personal projects (although I have finally started to make prints from my workshops to Namibia earlier this year). I had hoped to have more images processed from Iceland, Greenland and Svalbard but between the day-to-day business operations and family I just have not had time. I am actually quite a bit behind in image processing and I could use a month or two of solid computer time for editing, sorting and processing. Image processing will have to wait though as it is now time to turn my attention in full to South Georgia Island and Antarctica.
It is always exciting to be embarking on a new adventure with other passionate photographers and even though I have a pretty horrible travel schedule over the next three days to get to our departure point in Ushuaia, South America, I am looking forward to getting underway in just a few minutes when I finish up this post. Its just about 3am in the morning here and my first flight leaves in a couple of hours so it is time to load the car and make my way to the airport. See you in South America.
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