Antarctica

Hi everyone, I just got back from a 2-week trip to the Seventh Continent. What an amazing place! Snow and ice dominates the landscape, and the wildlife is stunning. It was a challenging photo shoot for me, as it was very different from the wide-angle, in-your-face style of shooting I typically prefer. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the trip.

The landscapes were jaw-dropping, and I got lucky with some interesting weather and light.

Penguins are comically engaging subjects. I captured this chinstrap penguin as it marched purposefully through the snow. I used my Tamron 150-500mm for most of my wildlife photos.

At times, the ship I was on was surrounded by icebergs. One day there was strong sunlight on the ice and stormy skies above. I went wide with my Tamron 35-150mm to capture this image.

Gentoo penguins are probably my favorite. I captured this photo of a gentoo resting while walking up a steep, snowy slope. I like the diagonal lines that result.

I made this wide-angle photo dangling over the edge of a Zodiac boat. This was a small iceberg, and I went wide to capture the underwater parts as well as the dramatic clouds above.

One day, we were surrounded by dozens of humpback whales bubble-net feeding. It was an amazing experience!

I made sure to zoom in tight to capture the amazing colors and textures of the many icebergs. This one in particular caught my eye, shaped and sculpted by the frigid waters.

This final photos is maybe my favorite from the trip. I like to create images with a certain amount of artistic abstraction, and I prefer photos that tell a story. I carefully pinned this gentoo penguin against the sunlit glacier in the background, and then waited for it to do something interesting. The shape of the glacier frames the penguin, giving it more emphasis in the composition.

Let me know what you think, thanks!