Antarctica – 2022

Traveling to Antarctica is not easy at the best of times, but during Covid it has been a bridge too far for most sensible people; the 2020 season was impossible and 2021 was extremely challenging. In the last 24 months there have been very few visitors, but even that did not stop Covid infections at some of the scientific bases. Visitors have been unable to get in and some have been unable to get out. It’s been the perfect storm.

We finally made it there last week after our plans in late November were scuppered due to Omicron concerns. My son and I camped for four nights in a modest tent near the German research base at Atka Bay, but the sizeable 25,000 strong Emperor Penguin colony near the base had dissipated with the majority of the adult penguins returning to fish the open sea. The remainder of the colony had moved to the sea ice and unfortunately to a place inaccessible without ropes and harnesses. This would have been a long way to go for nothing.

Fortunately, we had been made aware of this development by the wonderful team at White Desert, so at their recommendation we were joined in Atka by Chamonix mountaineering legend – Sam Beauguy – who would keep us safe on the hazardous treks to the colony. To be fair he “base jumps” for fun, so this was never going to be a challenge for him.

Antarctica – 2022

I have sensed for some time, that the art world is looking for more from photographers and I have been warned of the dangers of being too earnest with a camera, which is why I spend less time than I used to working on encounters demanding literal documentation. It is a crowded space and every day sensational natural world images are garnered from around the planet from accomplished wildlife photographers. I am just not sure where that space is going at a time of such abundance of quality content. I certainly don’t see much of it on show at Art Miami and that is a good barometer. Peter Beard was way way ahead of his time.

His mate, Andy Warhol said that “Art is what you can get away with” and I do get his point. It is for the viewer to decide what is dull and generic, not the practitioner, but I know from my own errors that photographs of decisive moments in the field, or indeed simple portraits, can totally fail to engage third parties who were not there at the time. They can work, but the quest for emotional engagement has never been harder. It is a tough crowd out there in 2022. There is “no importance of being earnest”.

These musings leant heavily on me as I deliberated what to do differently this time in Antarctica. Installation art interests me as a storyteller and the opportunities are limitless as it is fresh. We decided to bring some canvases down to Antarctica as they can be erected and taken down in 20 minutes without being invasive; a bit like a tent on the ice.

This preconceived image is lifted by two factors that I could not have influenced. Firstly, the textural beauty of the Emperor penguin; she is so LA and secondly the fact that the weather was tough. It just works and I know it will divide opinion – but that’s what you need – not ambivalence.

(For the avoidance of doubt, our installed art in Antarctica was erected on location under IATA guidelines and without the Emperor penguins anywhere near us. We relied on constant weather conditions and then did the maths on the composite).

Snow Hill, Antarctica 2010

Antarctica is a challenge to photograph in a way that is engaging to those that will never have the chance to visit – its enormity and its power are difficult to convey in one still image. Tight shots tend to work less well than wide-angle imagery that portray a sense of place. However, this photograph is my one exception to the rule. It has an aesthetic simplicity to it which none of my other images from Snow Hill could match. Emperor Penguins walk in single file and the file can be long – so a 90-degree angle is perfect if the ice structure and your stamina allow you to get there.

South Georgia, 2018

The vast number of penguin chicks in Golden Harbour in the early summer offers an opportunity to play with numbers. We brought a ladder all the way from London as we had a preconception that we may need to have a position of raised elevation to give depth.
I knew what I was looking for – we just needed to have eyes in the back of our heads. It is difficult to really convey the number of penguins on the beach, it’s as dense as this image suggests. The whole experience is somewhat overwhelming.
It’s a rather surreal image – but it’s reality

South Georgia, 2018

A likely favourite from the Southern Atlantic. There could only be one title!

South Georgia, 2018

I hoped that one day we would be treated to some miserable conditions in South Georgia as snowfall can add character to an image and endorse a sense of place. We certainly got our day and luckily this King Penguin group obliged with this vignette. The lead guy has a Napoleon look about him – it was “his way or the highway”. The topography of the beach lent to the composition and offered some depth to the narrative.

The Falklands, 2018

The Falklands are windy most of the time – it is the islands’ most marked characteristic. There is a beach about 3 hours drive from Stanley that offers photographers every chance to play with the wind and use it to their advantage. The only problem, however, is that sand gets everywhere, including inside the camera. Lying on the ground in the face of the sand storm is not the most comfortable of experiences – but it was necessary for the perspective.
The evening that I took this image the light was full and this allowed me to get more textural detail than I ever have in a penguin image. Cameras and lenses also continue to improve and this is evident in this simple image. King Penguins have both beauty and stature and my intent was to capture just that.

South Georgia, 2018

I took this early on in the trip and I kept referring back to it because it has character and the lead players are pin sharp. Penguins head on offer a different perspective and a ground position – as always – adds stature to the subject. There was no depth of field available that day and the vast majority of the images were cluttered and messy – except, thankfully, this one.
They look a cohesive unit and there is a touch of menace to their swagger. They are clearly the wise guys of the beach. The penguin on the right may have watched the odd Joe Pesci movie. “You think I’m funny?”