Sleeping beauty
Mother and baby Weddell seal having a nap in the sun. Taken in November 2013, when I was lucky enough to spend a year in the Antarctic....
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Mother and baby Weddell seal having a nap in the sun. Taken in November 2013, when I was lucky enough to spend a year in the Antarctic.
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Jul, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo in November of 2013 near Casey station, one of Australia's scientific research bases in AntarcticaTime
This photo was from about midday on a beautiful day out exploring the sea ice on quad bikes.Lighting
On this particular day we were blessed with having almost full sunlight with the main consideration being reflections from the snow. The sun light is very intense and I take the point of view that if sunglasses are good enough for your eyes, then they should be good enough for the camera. So a circular polarizing filter was used to help with the light.Equipment
This was shot on a Pentax K-5, using the Pentax DA 18-135mm lens and a circular polarizing filter.Inspiration
There were 3 of us who had spent the winter together and need to take the day off to go and explore the area, taking a break from station life. We took a quad bike each and went out onto the sea ice to find this particular harem of Weddel seals to observe the mothers and calves in their natural envinronment. The were lucky to have a clear and sunny day and the seals were having a relaxing time soaking up the sun's rays. The pile of ice is created from strong winds and currents pushing the sea ice up against a small island located just behind the ice pile.Editing
I didn't really do any post processing on this one as I had decided to put the camera on auto for a few shots and let the camera do all of the work.In my camera bag
I have: my Pentax K-5 bod; the 18-135mm (62mm diam.) lens mentioned above; a Sigma 120-400mm (77mm diam.) lens; a Tamron 24mm (55mm diam.) lens; Takumar 55mm (42mm diam) lens; and a Takumar 35mm (42mm diam.) lens. There's also a neutral density filter and polarizing filter, a couple of spare batteries and memory cards, the various adapters for lenses and filters, cleaning products and if I remember to take it, a Sony Cybershot DSC-TX20.Feedback
If you're travelling to the polar regions, or even taking photos in snow, you'll likely be in an area with fast changing conditions. Be prepared to switch from full sunlight to a diffuse overcast light with little shadows to low visibility and back to full sunlight in a short time period. Lithium-Ion batteries tend to not like being exposed to cold conditions for too long, so having a spare or two hidden inside your jacket for warmth and ready to be swapped as soon as your current one shows signs of fading. Once the old battery starts to warm up against you body it will show more charge than when removed from the camera. Wildlife in the Antarctic doesn't know of humans as being a threat and we would like to keep it that way, so if you're lucky enough to be in the region, then please stay 5 metres away from adults and 10 metres from adults and young. If the animal chooses to come to you, then you can enjoy the experience and by moving slowly, not scare them away.
