Latest cover shot for Lindblad Expeditions. The start of the Caledonian Canal at the southern end of Loch Ness at Fort Augustus, Scotland.
I've been working on a 'Polar Plunge' and iceberg photo project over a number of trips to Antarctica and have just published an 8"x8" soft cover book of images.
The ‘polar plunge’ is somewhat of a rite of passage for travellers to Antarctica. The ocean temperature there hovers slightly below freezing because of the water salinity and in a glacial world of icebergs, a jump into skin-biting water provokes a cold-shock response from the human body.
With this series of images I sought to uncover and explore the underwater experience of those who make the leap. I was surprised to capture calmness in the embrace of numbing cold, moments of transcendence perhaps for some. For others the frames reveal an experience more akin to a trial of courage in facing the unknown.
You can check it out at the link below but better yet grab a cheap copy of the real printed thing and enjoy!
Source: magcloud.com
I spent Xmas 2022 staying in the town of Bishop in the Owens River valley to the east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Dawn found me looking for an interesting foreground to combine with the magnificent backdrop of the snow covered mountains and hoping for some good light to do justice to the scenery. On a couple of mornings I found it!
Follow the link to this new series of images on my website. Please contact me directly if you'd like to purchase a print.
The finalists have been announced for this years Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards and I'm delighted that my photo of two southern elephant seal 'weaners' taking a break after a jousting session has made the cut. One ended up in a more comfortable position that the other! Snow Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Taken early in 2022 while working as a photo instructor with Lindblad Expeditions.
These youngsters are left to fend for themselves at the beach after weaning (when the time comes for their mothers to leave land for the ocean after nursing) and they have to learn everything about being a grown up through trial and error out in the big bad world.
The question now is whether my image is funny enough to beat out the other finalists to win the awards when announced on Dec 8th?! I'm doubtful after seeing some of the super fun photos in the gallery. You can vote for your favourite pic at the link below - not that I'm suggesting you vote for one in particular of course 😉
I am well on the way to healing after hernia surgery a week ago but am still confined to long walks rather than the activities like swimming and paddling that I'd rather be doing. This early morning my walk took me along Sunshine Beach in Queensland, Australia. A small outwash stream pool caught my eye and with my iPhone 12 (I know, "already outdated" I hear you cry), I took this image (not post processed) which I really like.
Coincidentally today, my buddy Dan Milnor https://shifter.media/about/ posted his latest opinion piece about photography (and a bunch of other things!). What he said makes a lot of sense and is something I already subscribe to 100% so I thought I'd share some of his words because they are relevant to my photo from this morning....
"I don’t know a single good photographer who changes their gear on a yearly basis. Good photographers work with gear that no longer requires much thought because they know how difficult it is to make great work and anything that gets in the way isn’t helpful. People who talk gear are amateurs. Talking about gear is easy. Far easier than making something original. Heck, making something original might take years and come with layer upon layer of failure, which looks really bad on an online feed...
Whatever camera you have right now is the only one you need especially if you are still learning photography. Find something that feels right and then go take a decade and practice. Stop sharing every moment, stop posting [guilty] and stop watching...Go work."
Heritage Bank in Australia has announced the winners of its 2022 annual Photographic Awards which are in their 34th year. I'm delighted that my image 'Ascension' was chosen as one of the finalists in the 'Open' category to be exhibited at the Art Gallery of the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba until the 28 October 2022.
This photo was taken during a 'polar plunge' in Antarctica, an event that is somewhat of a right of passage for many travellers venturing south with us at Lindblad Expeditions each southern summer. With the water temperature at about freezing it is an exhilarating but brief experience for all who brave it!
Canon EOS 5D MarkIV, 14mm f2.8L lens, f/5.6, 1/640 sec, ISO 800, AquaTech water housing.
Latest blog post at Lindblad Expeditions sharing my images from a recent trip to French Polynesia.
I'm pretty psyched to have made the top 10 in the 2022 Australian Surf Photo of the Year with this image 'Unridden Antarctica'.
I took it earlier this year working for Lindblad Expeditions when a beautiful, clean, barrel formed from a glacial calving event at Neko Harbour on the Antarctic Peninsula. When the wave broke on shore the wash almost reached the staging area for our landing which we had purposely located way above the waterline in anticipation of such an event! It was a spectacular sight to witness.
The Photo Issue of Whalebone Magazine' has just been released and I'm delighted to have an honourable mention in the 'Travel' category of their annual Photo Contest.
Framed prints of 'The Ramesseum' with part proceeds going to 'No Kid Hungry' are available at https://shopwhalebone.com/product/the-ramesseum/
Backstory to this image: I was expecting a dawn aerial adventure floating high above the Nile but it was too crowded in the balloon basket so I headed for this beautiful memorial temple to find a foreground to tell the story from the ground. Entry was closed so I literally ran past the surprised guards because the light was just about to go ballistic. One of them followed me but when he saw me running around like a madman with my camera he directed me to this spot. What a guy, he knew his photo spots that's for sure.
Latest brochure cover shot for Lindblad Expeditions, taken at the memorial temple of Pharaoh Ramesses II in Upper Egypt.
A hot air balloon ride at dawn over the west bank of the River Nile is a sought after photographic activity for visitors to the area and on that morning I was looking forward to joining the group I was leading for what we knew would be a spectacular event.
It was a frantic scene at the launch area as numerous tourist groups were hurriedly herded into the baskets in the half darkness. It felt very disorganised and certainly wasn't my idea of a peaceful way to start the day so when it became obvious that my group were too crushed together in the basket I happily climbed out leaving them with a bit more room to move around to get photos once in the air.
I wasn't going to give up on photographing something worthwhile though and I asked our local guide if there was anything nearby that could provide an interesting foreground for me to frame the balloons against as they ascended. 'The Ramesseum' he said, and we jumped into the car and drove a few minutes to the entrance. It wasn't open yet but the guards were huddled inside the gate structure, wrapped in scarves and drinking warm tea to ward off the pre-dawn chill.
Seeing the sun about to break the horizon I literally ran past them before they had a chance to raise their heads, our guide stepping in behind me to hopefully deal with a 'payment' to get me in early! Many balloons were already up and the hazy diffuse sunrise light was warming the ancient stone temple walls. I needed to quickly find a good spot to photograph from before the light became too harsh and I darted around in all directions, not happy with the foregrounds I found, until one of the guards caught up with me. I thought I was about to be admonished when instead he calmly beckoned that I follow him a short distance around a corner...and there it was, a perfectly framed view juxtaposing ancient scenes from the time of the pharaohs with the modern tourist activity of hot air ballooning. He knew precisely what would make for a good photo!
The photos I saw later on, taken from the balloon looking down, were of course beautiful, but not unique. I think I managed to find something unique to photograph that day but only because of the knowledge and generosity of local guides. I shot many frames over 15-20 minutes and it's great to see one being put to use on a brochure cover to advertise the fantastic Lindblad Expedition trips to Egypt.
In the April edition of Australian Photography magazine I have written a 'Behind the Lens' piece featuring an image I took in Antarctica in late 2021.
Here is the text - "This is a photo of Cockburn Island (64º 12´S) in the Weddell Sea near the Antarctic Peninsula. I captured it in 2021 while working as a photo instructor for Lindblad Expeditions onboard the ship the National Geographic Resolution. It’s a photo that will forever remind me of a night when I was ‘asleep at the wheel’ and allowed a need for rest get in the way of my goal to make good photographs.
Three days earlier I had embarked in Ushuaia at the tip of South America after a long charter flight from Miami. It had been a decent break from the job during the pandemic and I was excited to be on the ship and working with a talented field team of naturalists and Antarctic experts. But I was also very jet lagged. Our crossing of the notorious Drake Passage was kind – it wasn’t quite a ‘Drake lake’, but very close. Still, it always takes a while for my brainstem to cope with the sensory inputs from a pitching ship and the result is lethargy. Yet I was only getting about three hours of sleep a night.
It was summer solstice and the longest day of the year in the southern hemisphere. At that latitude the sun barely skims below the horizon between sunset and sunrise. But in my befuddled state I barely registered the possibility of a rare period of prolonged twilight between sunset and sunrise the next morning. Instead, I could barely keep my eyes open.
I made it to 2300, by which time I felt unable to function as a human. I thought it odd that my colleague, National Geographic photographer Camille Seaman, wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Of course, thinking straight, she had turned in for a short nap after dinner. Mindful of my work duties the next day I headed for bed. By 0100 I was slumbering, with the porthole cover drawn and my eye mask in place, completely oblivious to the incredible light show happening outside.
I did eventually make a couple of nice images once I surfaced for the last of the dawn light around 0330, with this photo my favourite - the pale pastel hues and sea ice contrasted nicely with the dark landform of the island. But it didn’t take long to hear about what I had missed. In the end, I could hardly admit to myself (let alone Camille!) that I wasn’t awake for a once-in-a-lifetime photography opportunity, one that she photographed so beautifully (see her shots at bit.ly/3ByTYxC).
The pursuit of photography is a journey, one from which I’m always learning and grateful for. There will always be missed shots and missed moments. Accepting this fact is important and part of what keeps me excited and looking ahead to the next great shot - especially in Antarctica."
Time-lapse.
March 6th 2022. Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California, USA.
The GRAY WHALES of Baja, Mexico.
The gray whale makes the longest annual migration of any mammal species. From the cold, productive waters off Alaska where they feed in the summer to the warm waters of Baja California Sur, Mexico to mate and breed in the winter. It’s a daunting journey of 10,000-14,000 miles.
These gentle giants of the ocean were once hunted close to extinction. Today they are the stars of small whale watching businesses dotted along the Pacific coast of the Baja Peninsula. The whales congregate at three huge calving lagoons which afford protection for their young from their main predator the killer whale.
Local fisherman use their experience in these waters to offer fantastic gray whale watching experiences from their pangas (small boat). Baja’s gray whale season is best known for startling friendly behaviour from some whales. I had heard of inquisitive whales that will approach a boat to interact with the people onboard but I didn’t think it would be a common experience. In my role as a photo instructor onboard the ship National Geographic Venture with Lindblad Expeditions I recently accompanied our guests on a number of excursions in pangas in Magdalena Bay.
I was surprised and amazed to see whales approach us a number of times. They spent many minutes criss crossing from one side to the other beneath our hull scratching up against the panga and deliberately raising their head close enough to be petted. They also spy hopped, slapped their flippers and occasionally made a shallow dive and showed off their tail flukes.
I shot the underwater images using an Aquatech Reflex water housing for my Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, it was a great tool for me to try and tell the story of these interactions from a different viewpoint. I used a Canon 14mm lens a dome port.
All photos Andrew Peacock except photo 6 (James Hyde @jamesfchyde) and photo 7 (supplied)
Silo art has turned Australian regional areas into a vast outdoor gallery. Dotted across the country, the gigantic murals on grain storage towers, or silos, also known as grain elevators in the United States give those exploring the land an insight into the people and animals who live there. The murals transform these cold, imposing buildings into works of art.
I'm delighted that the latest silo art location, in Kingscote on beautiful Kangaroo Island, South Australia, features a painted interpretation of my photo of a feeding KI glossy black-cockatoo. The artist is Cam Scale and it's an incredible piece of large scale art. What a treat to see this wonderful - and threatened - bird highlighted in such a way. Below is the link to an online story with photos and video about the project.
https://www.theislanderonline.com.au/story/7604844/kingscote-silo-art-project-now-complete/
'Heart of The Nation' is The Weekend Australian Magazine's weekly feature column of a photo and accompanying story written by Ross Bilton based on his interview with the photographer and/or subject of the image.
It was an honour to be interviewed with my wife Sabina by Ross for HOTN last week when it showcased a photo I took of her on a short trip recently to explore the beautiful and dramatic rainforest of the Bunya Mountains National Park in Queensland.
This year's Memorial Maria Luisa INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAIN, NATURE AND ADVENTURE PHOTO CONTEST winners have just been announced at their virtual awards ceremony in Spain and I am honoured to have won the 'Biodiversity' category with 'Raft of Penguins'.
I took this photo of Adelie Penguins on an ice floe in Antarctic Sound from the bow of the ‘National Geographic Explorer’ in my role as a photo instructor for Lindblad Expeditions. In the background, under a brooding early morning sky, rises the distinctive volcanic cone of Paulet Island where we landed later that day to learn about the large breeding colony of about 100,000 pairs of these charismatic flightless birds. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Canon 24-105mm f/4 L lens1/1000 sec at f/5.6 ISO 400
You can see some truly beautiful images across a number of categories (including my highly commended image 'Hakea' in the 'Plant World' category) at http://www.memorialmarialuisa.com/edicion31.php
I've written a new blog post for Lindblad Expeditions featuring some of my images to illustrate photography tips for guests joining us on what is a fascinating Iceland circumnavigation. I hope you enjoy it!