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Ice and photography, Antarctic, Thursday, 17 Nov 2023

 

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Today is about the ice.  It was the first day we saw icebergs floating, so I am posting here the majority of my ice and iceberg photos in this post. Not great journalism, but at some point I need to just get the photos up there.

This shade of aqua marine is a color that will stick with me.


The water was so clear.

Icicles

I thought I would take a moment to talk about photography on  this trip.  All of the photos on my Antarctic blogs were taken by myself (unless otherwise noted.)  My discussion of camera stuff is interspersed with the photos of ice.



Icebergs are formed on land, then break off to float in the sea.

First off it is easy to take good photos in the Antarctic.  The only people that did not get good photos are the ones that did not bring cameras. There is nothing more photogenic than a penguin.


The better the rating for ice, the closer a ship can get.
I inadvertently choose well.

 I used two cameras.  My Samsung phone is equipped with an array of cameras.  It takes fabulous pictures.  It doesn't always focus just when and where I want. I worry about dropping it and losing or damaging it would really inconvenience me.   And it was easy to upload photos for backup and social media.

We landed on an ice sheet.
At this point we were standing over water.
The cracks in the ice were a bit unnerving.

Sea ice forms on the water. These little chunks ram into each other.

On my trip to the  Galapagos, our guide had an Olympus Tough. I decided that this was the time to get one, and I am glad I did.  All of the photos taken on the Zodiacs were taken with this camera. It has a metal body, and can be used under water. I am quite impressed with the quality of the pictures. 




I really can't claim any great technique. The joy of digital is that one can take a thousand photos and dump 999 of them.  I call it point and pray.  The down side of this method is that it takes a lot of time to go back and weed out the stuff that should not be kept. Then one has to thin down the photos to those that should be shared. Then go back and thin it some more.



I have said a bit about how great the expedition staff was.  We had the great fortune to have Jeffrey Garriock as our photographer in residence. He gave a wonderful talk about framing photographs and using narrative in the photo itself. I think it has improved my pictures a great deal.  At least it has  improved how I think about the photographs. (Don't blame him for the quality of my photos. He did his best.)

Ice slightly magnified

Ice forms into pads, that stick to each other
These will eventually jam together to form sea ice.

There are three things I will mention.  One is that one should get the camera long before your trip and take lots and lots of pictures to find out which mode works best for your own style of photo gathering. Do not wait until you are standing on the ice in front of the seal that is about to eat the penguin. You need to be able to point and shoot, shoot, shoot. not be fussing with equipment.




Once you start to understand how the camera feels, put on your gloves and/or mittens.  If possible, put on all of your coats and jackets.  You are going to find that the camera doesn't work as well when  your fingers are covered.  Where you think you will carry your camera will not work the way you thought it would. Look at the photos you took, you may find that the glove partially covers the lens. Once you think you can do this all, open your freezer, and put your hands in there and take some photos.

And figure out how to attach your phone/camera to your person. Remember all of those waterfall photos I took, there was a pile of cameras at the bottom of some of them.  Not only does it help when things are cold, damp, and slippery.  It does help to prevent pick pocket theft. (Not that there are many pickpockets in Antarctica.)

This and the next few photos are of a chunk of ice we picked up.

The golf ball divots are created when the salt
in the water does not freeze, creating pockets of 
water that is very saline.

This is Matt, one of the Expedition team.
His quiet demeanor hides a well of knowledge and skill.

It did not take me long to learn that when he stops to look at something
it was a really good time to stop and watch.




















Comments

Sidney Grace said…
That beautiful aqua marine color is so beautiful.. I was cracking up reading the “How to use your camera” paragraphs.😀
January 7, 2024 at 6:53 AM
Amayra sharma said…
This post came at the perfect time for me. I've been struggling with this, and your tips are practical and easy to implement. Thanks for sharing!
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January 11, 2024 at 3:24 AM
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