I know that everyone wants photos of penguins, but I thought that I’d drag out the process a little bit on this one.
Instead, here is a photo essay of Ice. Yes, you heard that right. Sometimes inspiration in photography is drawn from subjects you might not expect, but the ice in Antarctica shows an amazing character. Each iceberg, each glacier, and each floating sheet shows a different journey towards creation. Like a finger print each piece of ice is different to the others as the powerful ocean carefully carves each and every section. And like a child who sees shapes in the clouds, visitors to the Antarctic can’t help but spot ducks, whales, and cars in the ice.
Everyone has a different favourite, which one is your favourite?
The Amazing thing to me is that around 75% of the ice is below the surface of the water. With a Polarizer on my lens I can see below the water a little bit.Each iceberg is featured by different ripple patterns, like finger prints, each is DifferentA close up view shows the work that water does to the ice. Each ripple of the water leaves its mark.Tiny pieces of ice lay patiently in the water waiting for their turn to become ice after waiting for thousands of years as ice.The bright blue in the ice is caused by light scattering, the same thing that makes our bright sky blue.As I was photographing this iceberg a bird flew into my shot. I would have loved to get him focused, but as it is I think it is really amazing how the bird blends with the ice.If the ice wasn’t amazing enough, the mountains in the background are spectacular. After photographing ice in Antarctica for a while, photographers start to get greedy looking for not only ice, but ice with mountains or animals.Birds find refuge from their flights and hunt from above as they perch themselves on giant chunks of ice. Below you can see the gap below the ice caused by the change in tides.At times the water calms down leaving the water without even a ripple. The water seems to glow a dark black, like the spill of a beautiful oil spill.The design of this ice is a beauty that only nature can create, it almost looks like profiles of human faces carved in the blue ice.A group of zodiac cruisers admire the Antarctic Iceberg as close as possible. The scale of the huge ice in comparison to the boat gives some perspective to the size of these icebergs.
Photography in Antarctica?
If you’re looking for an opportunity to do some photography in Antarctica, I do offer an occasional workshop onboard an expedition ship.
Check out my list of workshops here, or be sure to sign up for my newsletter if you’re interested in information about upcoming trips.
