Photos that Tell a Tale: Antarctica

The mornings in Antarctica are so beautiful but freezing cold. It’s hard to grasp the enormity of your surroundings, so I’m really glad I captured this iceberg in front of the this huge mountain to help give it scale. It’s worth a few frozen fingers to see the days first light hit the snow and ice.

One thing you are sure to encounter in Antarctica is penguins. The most common on my trip was the Gentoo, easily identified by the white patch around and behind the eye. I literally have thousands of photos of these cute little guys. I like this one as it looks like he (or she) is really enjoying the sun, just soaking it up and smiling.

This waddle of penguins (A group of penguins on land is called a called a waddle or colony) are ready to take a swim, probably to hunt for food. One surprising thing you’ll never forget after being around a lot of penguins is the smell. It seems to soak into your clothes and it took weeks after my trip to Antarctica to ‘air them out’ but it did always bring back wonderful memories.

I was very fortunate to see and photograph many seals during this trip. I was told since we enjoyed an unprecedented three days of blue skies, the seals were out of the water enjoying the sun. Scratches, gashes and deep wounds were visible on many of the seals. This particular one looked worn out and much older than most of the others. As you can see, he (or she) has been through a lot by the multiple scars that covered its entire body.

While taking a small boat ride through what is named the Iceberg graveyard, I was photographing these beautiful ice formations and what I like to call a ‘happy accident’ occurred – capturing a bird in mid-flight at that exact moment. Which in my opinion makes this shot even more beautiful.

It’s hard to pick what is more amazing, the sunrises or sunsets in Antarctica. You are surrounded by blue water and mostly white all day, clouds, snow, glaciers and icebergs. As you can see from this photo of a sunset, the multitude of colors become reveled – the oranges, reds and yellows reflect off the snow and ice creating a whole new look in every direction. I believe the sunrises and sunsets in Antarctica are…..magical!