Antarctica - A Photo Essay

[hoopdriver]

Antarctica is one of my favourite places on earth. As a magazine writer and photographer I have had the good fortune to travel down there a lot in the past, generally on assignments for Time and National Geographic. This morning when I was sorting through some old files I came upon a series of landscape photos I took along the Antarctic peninsula and South Georgia Island a few years ago; I'd forgotten all about them. And although my website is ostensibly about cycling, I've posted a selection of my favourites.

If you would like to see them they are here:

http://my-bicycle-and-i.co.uk/2012/antarctica-a-photo-essay/

 

[pplpilot]

Beautiful. You have my dream job.

<cough> lucky bastard

 

[Fnaar]

Lovely pics, thanks for sharing!

 

[Marshmallow_Fluff]

..did I hear you saying you need a PA or a porter, or a skivvy or ... something?

Great pics and brilliant blog btw!

 

[Durian]

Wonderful photos. If you want someone to carry your bags on your next assignment down there please give me a call!

 

[jonny jeez]

wow.

but....

wow

Now I'm totally depressed....sigh, you are indeed very fortunate. Beautiful pics of a place on our planet that I would dearly love to visit.

 

[Durian]

..did I hear you saying you need a PA or a porter, or a skivvy or ... something?

Great pics and brilliant blog btw!

Damn you for getting in first!!!

 

[hoopdriver]

[QUOTE 2115128, member: 9609"]Lucky lucky you - I would so much love to go down there, would love one day to sail in the southern oceans and to visit the Antarctica would be the icing on the cake. :-)

Have just been reading the BBC book "Frozen Planet" and there is a wonderful misprint (or at least I think it's a misprint) It shows a fantastic image of an emperor penguin airborne coming out of the water onto the ice - and the caption reads something like "The penguins reach speeds of 400kmh (250mph) as they leave the water"[/quote]
Yup - definitely a misprint!

It is amazing to see them hop up onto the ice.

If you ever get the chance, go!

 

[coffeejo]

Beautiful, thanks for sharing.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Lovely, really great.

 

[ttcycle]

I particularly like the seal, facial expression and the tail flapping up was nicely captured!

 

[Spinney]

At the risk of being repetitive...

...beautiful set of pics, thanks for sharing!

 

[hoopdriver]

Thanks for your kind words. Antarctica is a truly amazing place and one of the great things about it is that the most beautiful places are also the easiest for an average person to get to. I have travelled all over that continent - South Pole, Trans-Antarctic Mountains, Ross Ice Shelf, spent a week at the summit of Mt Erebus with the volcanologists, and sailed the coast of East Antarctica and honestly - for sheer majesty and incredible amounts of wildlife, nothing beats the Antarctic Peninsula and South Georgia. It is everything that is fabulous about Antarctica wrapped into one nifty package. And this is the part that is easiest to get to, by tour ship from Ushuaia, Argentina. Truly, if you get the chance and can scrape up the passage - go! It will be unforgettable

 

[02GF74]

is there any shrine/monument at where the failed Scott expedition was found?

liked the photo of penguins guarding the flag, although one did look like he'd sicked on himself.

 

[hoopdriver]

is there any shrine/monument at where the failed Scott expedition was found?

liked the photo of penguins guarding the flag, although one did look like he'd sicked on himself.

No monument at where Scott's tent was found - if there had been it would long ago have been buried in the ice. Ironically enough, thanks to the slow, relentless outward shifting of the ice sheet the bodies of Scott and his colleagues (still entombed in the ice) would have passed the depot they were trying to reach when they died a century ago. In another few hundred yers they will finally reach the Ross Sea, and the old navy guys will get their delayed burial at sea.

I am glad you liked the penguin and flag photo. Penguins are not the best when it comes to personal hygiene - that's probably guano on him...