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Contest Finalist in Wildlife Friends Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Celebrating Nature Photo Contest Vol 7
Amateur Winner Animals Around Us Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Animals Around Us Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Travel Photo Contest 2019
Contest Finalist in Winter Wildlife Photo Contest
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo on Gourdin Island near the Antarctic Peninsula. I was so excited to be lucky enough to get to this location and my main purpose was photography.Time
This was fairly early in the morning, but of course the sun would have been up for quite a while in this part of the world. We had to wait to disembark at this location due to the katabatic winds which luckily dropped.Lighting
It is very tricky lighting at this time of the day when the skies are so blue and the ice is so white as it’s easy to get blow outs and lose all your highlights. It seemed that down in this region on this trip, I either had very blue skies with no cloud, or snow for my landings.Equipment
I was using my Nikon D810 paired with my favourite lens, Nikon 70-200 f2.8 FL.Inspiration
When you are cruising around in a zodiac in the Antarctic waters of an amazing island surrounded by incredible ice structures and wildlife, everywhere you turn you see something you want to take a photo of. We actually spent a bit of time near this group of penguins in the hope that they would jump into the water, unfortunately without any luck. They would teeter on the edge looking into the water, but not one would make the first leap. I captioned it, You go first! No! You go first, because as they were shuffling around, it seemed like that was what they were saying to each other. I also wanted people to get a sense of how many penguins were there and the brave leap off the shelf that they would have to make.Editing
I had to get some of the highlights back in this photo and due to the where the light was coming from, I had to give the penguins a little more light so you could see their dirty bellies.In my camera bag
My Nikon D810 body is always first in the bag. Depending on where I am going and what I want to photograph, I pair it with either my favourite Nikon 70-200 f2.8 FL which is so easy to use and gives a beautiful range and is so clear. Otherwise, I have a nice 24-120 f4 which I find great for travel as it is reasonably wide, but has the flexibility of a bit of zoom as well. But I have my two primes as well, a Nikon 50mm and a Tokina 17mm. I might then take my Manfrotto carbon fiber tripod.Feedback
You just have to get there and see what the trip brings and work with what you are given. For me it was the most amazing trip, but it will change all the time and often at short notice. Be prepared for challenging light conditions and variable weather including the fact that it is very cold! One day you can be dealing with blue skies and the next snow. You also never know what you are going to see, so for me, it was all about being in the moment and focusing on what was in front of me rather than worrying about what wasn’t there.