A
Gentoo penguin chick waves from beneath the safety and warmth of its
parent, at Fort Lockroy, Antarctica. Picture: Alex Cearns/Houndstooth
StudioPHOTOGRAPHER Alex Cearns didn’t know where to look first when she finally stepped foot on “the bottom of the world”.
This
was partly because her first view was of 5000 mating penguins, but
mainly because there was just so much she wanted to capture.
So it was no surprise that she shot about 18,000 images in the six days she explored the world’s coldest continent. A
curious and playful Chinstrap penguin looks around quizzically in the
South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Picture: Alex Cearns/Houndstooth
Studio“I was so overwhelmed by all the seals, the birds, the penguins,” she said.
“Then I thought, ‘this is crazy, we’re at the bottom of the world’. ”
It
was a spectacular start to what she described as the greatest
experience of her career – leading a 20-person wildlife photography tour
through Antarctica. The
strong, touch feet of a Gentoo penguin chick rest on the cold ground of
Cuverville Island, Antarctica. Picture: Alex Cearns/Houndstooth StudioThe
tour left from Ushuaia, on the southernmost tip of Argentina, and
sailed down the Beagle Channel and Drake Passage before landing at the
South Shetland Islands.
“When we first stepped out onto the
Antarctic continent, there were about 5000 mating gentoo penguins and it
was just amazing watching all their different behaviours,” Cearns said. A crab eater seal lying on an iceberg in Neko Harbour, Antarctic, has a zen moment. Picture: Alex Cearns/Houndstooth StudioEven though it was the southern hemisphere’s summer, the mercury reached a high of only about 5C during last month’s tour.
Strict rules meant the photographers had to be at least 5m from penguins and 30m from seals. A Gentoo penguin rides on an iceberg of brilliant blue in Flanders Bay, Antarctic. Picture: Alex Cearns/Houndstooth StudioCearns’ next tour, in June, will be something very different – Cambodian bear sanctuaries.
For more information, go to houndstoothstudio.com.au
The Penguin Camera is located on Torgersen Island (64°46’S, 64°04’W), off the coast of Anvers Island and less than a mile from Palmer Station. Torgersen Island is home to a colony of Adélie penguins numbering approximately 2,500. This camera is seasonal and operates primarily from October to February, the Adélie breeding season. The camera is solar-powered and may sometimes experience brief outages due to inclement weather. School classrooms and other educational demonstrations will often take control of the camera, moving it to gain better views of the colony.
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