South Georgia Island And Antarctica Expedition Report
November 3 - November 22, 2014
In November 2014 Andy Biggs and I co-led a brand new and very exciting photography expedition to South Georgia Island and Antarctica. This twenty day (yes, 20 days!) photography expedition departed Ushuaia in South America on the 3rd of November 2014 and was designed to provide the definitive South Georgia Island photography experience. We sailed first to the Falkland Islands where we photographed nesting Black-Browed Albatross and comedic Rock Hopper Penguins. We then set sail for South Georgia Island where we saw and photographed the world's largest King Penguin rookeries, majestic albatross, seals and a plethora of bird life. Kelp strewn beaches were cluttered with basking elephant seals, feisty fur seals and hundreds of penguins that proved a wildlife photographers dream. Stromness and Grytviken harboured 3000 metre rocky peaks that rose up from the ocean to form amazing backdrops to the remains of whaling stations that met all our wishes for dramatic landscape. South Georgia’s remote, untamed landscape was simply stunning. Scattered across the mighty Southern Ocean, the tiny arc of windswept islands and harbours are some of the world’s greatest wildlife sanctuaries set against world class landscapes. Famed for its abandoned whaling stations and Shackleton’s heroic journey, South Georgia is home to literally millions of fur seals and penguins, wallows of elephant seals, and nesting albatross. South Georgia Island proved an absolute paradise for wildlife and landscape photography. After South Georgia we steamed south to the Antarctic Peninsula where we spent time photographing amazing icebergs and the spectacular Antarctic landscape. We were fortunate to encounter some gigantic tabular icebergs coming out of the Weddell Sea and we were able to take advantage of the situation to create some amazing photographs. We sailed through the spectacular Lemaire Channel under an incredible Antarctic sunset and explored many of the peninsula’s islands, bays and coves. After we finished photographing in Antarctica we sailed back to Ushuaia where we docked on the 22nd of November and concluded our expedition.
