Snapping away on my camera in Antarctica

Antarctica is filled with colours, but shades of white are predominant

Our chance to visit the Antarctic came about so quickly (last-minute deal) that I didn’t have time to do anything sensible in relation to my camera. What I had was what I used.

That camera is a not-so-ancient Canon 450D with a lone 15–85mm lens (more about that later). I bought the body, along with two kit lenses, in 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa, after a point-and-shoot Canon died in Namibia.

Both the kit lenses died in 2011 and, after much dithering, I replaced them with the 15–85 number. For the Antarctic, I wished I’d had a proper telephoto lens as well.

But you wouldn’t believe the cameras that came to Antarctica with us. Every time I pointed my camera, I felt like a guy with a teeny-weeny willy.

A keen photographer gets in position

There was one (maybe two) group of Chinese tourists who brought cameras lenses I didn’t know existed. We’re talking huge willys—lenses as long as my leg, There may have been one or two as tall as me!

Group members were part of a photography club, and I’ve since seen an online reference to the fact that they might be able to sell a photo for up to $50,000.

I have no way of knowing if that is true, but I went on a Zodiac cruise with eight Chinese and I could hardly hear for the clicking of cameras. The last time I heard that amount of clicking was in the early 1980s during the civil war in Lebanon—and clicking was of a lot of people cocking their kalashnikovs.

But I digress. I need to answer more of the questions asked about cameras in relation to this expedition.

Given my ancient camera and lack of preparedness, I fear I may not be the best adviser, but this should help others who are not overly prepared.

Lots of the yellow penguins have tripods and ginormous lenses

Did you use a tripod?

Nope, I didn’t have one. That said, I could have used one. But we travelled for many months on the back of a truck, so I decided not to take one. There’s only so much you can carry in anticipation.

I’m guessing here, but I think a tripod would be especially important on an Antarctic expedition that was plagued by bad weather—anything to control movement and lighting. You can’t predict the weather, so if you can afford the room and/or weight, take a tripod.

How much did you use a polariser?

I might have used a polariser a lot, but I didn’t have one. Poor John has polarised sunglasses and it was nice to look through them for the view every now and then, but I never used them with the camera.

A good reason to use a fast shutter speed

What settings did you use?

I’m kind of embarrassed to answer this, but I’ll be honest. The expedition photographer gave a lecture about camera settings. He talked about ISO settings and various other aspects, which I can no longer remember. I think he said to lower the ISO to 100.

I didn’t mean to ignore his words, but I kind of know my own camera and preferences. As a result, I tried an experiment that worked, and stuck with it. I used the TV setting that relates to shutter speed. I set it at a 250th of a second and left it there for most outside shots.

Part of the reason I went with a 250th of a second is that I wanted be able to freeze action when necessary, so that fast shutter speed allowed me to capture a few nice shots.

With weather like this, we didn’t need dry bags. Note the two (tiny) penguins on the left

How did you protect your camera?

Here’s another confession about unpreparedness. Poor John and I have several ‘dry’ bags that we always take on overland adventures. Oh, except we forgot this time! He thought I’d packed them and vice versa.

The day before our first landing, the expedition photographer explained the challenges to keep your camera safe and dry—a dry bag was essential!

Rats! The onboard gift shop was closed and would not reopen until after the landing. So I winged it and I was lucky. In fact, I was lucky for the entire time.

We had beautiful calm weather for the entire trip. Occasionally, when the Zodiac sped along, I sheltered the camera against my jacket, but overall it wasn’t an issue. So I never had to buy a dry bag.

It was impossible to stop looking at and photographing the scenery. Absolutely gobsmacking

What video camera did you use?

Geez, you people ask tough questions. Remember, I wasn’t prepared. My iPhone did a pretty good job of filming.

I always slipped it in my pocket and it even survived being dropped in the disinfectant bath we walked through as we left and returned to ship for landings.

When I go again

On my next trip to Antarctica—oh, yes, I will return—I’ll plan to take a new camera body, several lenses including a not-over-the-top telephoto, a tripod, my own dry bags and a video camera. Oh, and I’ll take the iPhone as back-up!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.