They are cute because they are awkward but still think they can walk around in tuxedos all day. Who do they think they are, James Bond? No, they are penguins, and they always make for great photos. On my various trips I have encountered four types of penguins while in Antarctica: chinstrap penguins, gentoo penguins, my personal favourite adelie penguins, Emperor, and a brief Macaroni. During my first to Antarctica, I took nearly 800 penguin pictures. Over the years, I’ve probably taken thousands.
This photo essay on penguins features mostly images from my first trip back in 2011.
Gentoo Penguins
We saw by far more Gentoo Penguins than any others. They are very entertaining because they are constantly active and posing for pictures.
“Penguin Wisdom” – The great thing about photographing penguins is that they always seem to have great expressions on their faces. Often they look as if they’re very wise and deep in thought.“Hey Girlfriend” – When the penguins are not being wise they’re being animated. They are very curious and constantly give looks of confusion.“Walk of Shame” – The reason I started doing the “penguin thoughts” segment was because as I looked back at these pictures I couldn’t help but want to put captions over each of their little heads. This was easily one of my favourite penguin pictures, if for nothing else aside from its cute look as if it did something wrong.“Penguin Chicks” – A penguins attachment and need to care for their young is incredible. The male and the female rotate taking turns caring for the young while the other fishes for food. And when a penguin doesn’t have a chick, sometimes it tries to steal other chicks.“Family Picture” – It is funny that even when the penguin chicks are nearly the size of their parents they stay close together, if not in firm physical contact. Unlike many of my shots which I waited for the right pose, these guys were in this position when I got to the spot; I love it when that happens.
Chinstrap Penguins
Once you see them, you understand where their name comes from. They were the laziest of the penguins, and didn’t move much which made them great targets for close-ups.
“Penguin Prayer” Sometimes down on the beach the penguins would just squint off while looking up as if they were praying.“Rained out” – Penguins are some weird sort of hybrid between dolphins and birds, and they never seemed to mind the rain. However, at the beach they would stand for hours just cleaning themselves off.“Penguin Dive” – More proof of the penguin’s dolphin like quality. This is easily one of the penguin pictures I”m most proud of since it takes the penguin out of it’s natural element. Actually when we got to deception island there were hundreds swimming, and I took about 300 shots, only this one and another captured the moment just right… so hard to shoot from a moving zodiac.“Happy Feet” A great photography tip was given to me by a travel photographer once. Shoot the obvious, then shoot every other angle and subject imaginable. I thought of that just before I shoot the feet of this penguin, I think it turned out really cool.
Adelie Penguins
Maybe it’s because we saw the fewest of these, or maybe it’s their bright blue eyes, but these little guys were my favourites.
“Adelie Pose” – The Adelie are the smallest of the penguins we saw, which automatically makes them the cutest, and can’t you just see their bright blue eyes shinning?“Adelie Break” – Quite often the penguins look lost, as if they are trying to figure out how to get home. But I really just think they are out of shape and need breaks.“Adelie Walk” – It always amused me how the penguins needed to walk with their arms out for balance, it definitely adds to the cuteness factor. I think I’m going to start doing the same!
Emperor Penguins
It’s really rare to see Emperor Penguins on the Antarctic Peninsula – where I’ve spent most of my time.
However, on my most recent photography workshop, we did see one both in the water and on a piece of ice. Apparently, when you see emperors on the peninsula it’s a young one just out on a jaunt of exploration.
Macaroni Penguins
I’ve only seen a Macaroni Penguin once, and it was a fleeting moment. These are perhaps the most interesting looking penguins. They have almost a cartoon-like set of eyebrows. They are very interesting looking.
I’d love to get a photo of one. However, I just didn’t have any luck when we spotted ours.
More From Antarctica?
I’m in Antarctica every other year or so leading photography workshops. So, there will definitely be more to come from Antarctica on this blog and over on my YouTube channel in the time to come.
