Antarctica Color
The 3 Brothers: In an area referred to as the Iceberg Graveyard you are able to get close to the icebergs without fear of them tipping over. The distinct shapes of these 3 standing together deserved closer inspection.
The Beacon: Each Iceberg I saw in Antarctica had a unique character. But this one stood as a massive beacon above the landscape, calling to be recognized.
Colossus: Often times mountains can get lost within the landscape and blend into their surroundings. Not the case with this towering Colossus standing guard with its snow covered flanks and imposing rock faces.
Perfection: Wouldn't change a thing, even if I could.
Finding the Flow: As the freshwater from the melting Ice intermixes with the denser salt water and it all is shaped by the strong currents you start to get very interesting flow among the landscape.
Hard Candy Shell: Who would have thought that Icebergs could have personality and be so distinctively different from each other. The hard candy shell of this floating albatross hints towards what is below if you can only crack the shell.
Powered by SmugMug Echos: Often times within the landscape, where we look, we receive an echo. These echos can be the queues that help us in our photography. The answers that bring our images the counterbalance we seek. Highlights to Shadows. Warm to Cool. Small to Large.
Finned: Reflected light, amplified heat from the sun, weaknesses in the ice, the relentless forces of water and time. All of them work together to create fins of perfection.
First Light: All the light is special. It grows our food, warms our planet, wakes us up, brightens our moods. But the first light of the day is often times the most magical. Signifying a transition and instilling the hope for what is to come.
Berg Glory: Captivating us with its geometric shapes, strong angular lines, and ability to shape the light with different textures Icebergs bring forth so much of the glory we hope to produce as photographers.
Guanaco: Standing above Ushuaia, Argentina is the captivating Guanaco peak. Not a scene you can absorb unless across the bay or in this case, on a boat within Tierra Del Fuego. Guanaco is a term associated the the 4 hoofed animal but its actual roots are in the Spanish words for silly, simple, and rustic.
Layered: Light gives us life. It also gives us layers. By giving us layers, it brings us depth. Depth in turn can bring our images more meaning and connection.
Ripples of Life: As a human, you cannot help but to be moved by and to connect with the light in Antarctica. It behaves in ways you cannot easily comprehend. As a photographer you are constantly dazzled by the way it ripples at the low angles through this landscape.
Light Puddles: A powerful example of refracted light where the light itself takes on a visual form we don't typically see as it is bent and travels into and then out of the water. Most often it takes on a warm glow, but not this time.
Lingering: The lingering lonely mountain with an almost serpentine cloud dominating the scene.
Optics: What are the optic properties that help us to see light? How about how the light is compressed within ice, into the shorter wavelengths and thus the bluer colors.
Sculpted: Taking on forms that can rarely be conceived within the man made world, you start to see that the hand of nature truly can sculpt and inspire in ways that are dynamically unique.
Stromness: A derelict whaling station lurks in the distance as a cloud hangs at the bay and bids us to come back to the safety of our floating home.
Subtle: While we will always be drawn to the grand landscapes, we can find a different type of beauty in the subtle ways Mother nature reveals her hand.
Surreal: What I am I seeing? What is causing this? What does it remind me of? Have I ever seen anything like this before? All the questions would bounce through my head as I looked at this surreal landscape.
Tablelands: Places you cannot access as the walls are too steep to land a boat. Worlds you can explore visually.
Testament: Icebergs can take 3,000 years from when the first snowflake falls on them and helps them take their shape till they finally surrender their last of their form to the ocean. A testament to longevity.
The Beagle: The Beagle Channel at the southernmost fringes of Antarctica provides powerful landscapes and in between storms dramatic displays of the magic of transitions.
The Hitchhiker: A lonely thumb sticks out above the landscape looking to grab a ride on a passing ship.
Foreign Steps: In what is becoming a trend that will continue, a Gentoo penguin leaves a footprint behind on the bare and unfrozen beach in Antarctica. With 99.5% of this world covered in ice and snow these moments are foreign.
Scale: We lose the sense of scale within landscapes that are new or foreign to us. But as the 70 foot high boat gives you scale you can discover just how massive the ice that towers above it are.
Serpentine: The changing reflectivity of this serpentine peak highlights the direction of the sun and acts as a fortune teller of the future to come for its other side.
Superlatives: Words seemed to have flowed out of me in more ways than I can easily keep track of as I witnessed this late night / early morning scene. The light lingered for an extended period as the boat moved up the channel and changed the orientation and angles of these incredible peaks.
Beckoning: The innocent peak and its subtle like beckons you to come explore even if just for a bit.
The Quiet Light: Light often times can be loud and commanding, other times it can be so soft, subtle, and quiet that you are instantly calmed and brought into this magical world.