Heading Home...

I finally left Antarctica several days ago. We flew from South Pole, a 3 hour flight, to McMurdo on the coast, where we spent a couple of hours waiting for our plane from New Zealand to arrive. Then we made the 5 hour flight to Christchurch, NZ, where we were greeted with humidity and the lovely smell of dirt and vegetation and the best part, a night sky. We haven't seen the darkness since we left NZ at the first of November. I didn't think I had missed it, but apparently I have.

These photos are from our flights. This is what happens when one ends a season at South Pole and makes their way back to the real world...

South Pole Botanic Gardens

Amusing myself on a Sunday afternoon. This was a quick installation I did outside last weekend at -17 degrees F, with the help of my friend Wendy (seen in the TtV shot).

I intended to recreate what I miss most here...

Twin Otter

I haven't had much time for shooting lately but last weekend I finally made it out to the Twin Otter for some photos. These small planes are used for flying all around Antarctica. This particular one is based at South Pole and flies from here out to the field camps that are within several hundred miles.

Day & Night Flower Series

I shot a lot of photos in the greenhouse before everything was torn out last week. These are some of my favorite black & whites. Anyone that knows me well knows how fascinated I am by flowers and plants in general. I love seeing them in black & white because it's always the small, perfectly formed bits that intrigue me, not the colors, and shooting them in black & white makes me pay more attention to the details.

Overland Traverse to South Pole

A couple of days ago the second overland traverse from McMurdo Station, on the Ross Ice Shelf, to South Pole Station, in the center of the continent, arrived bringing us 83,000 gallons of fuel. They came with 8 of these huge tractors and made the trip in 29 days.

The Sad End

It's nearly time to pull everything from the greenhouse and I couldn't resist trying one more time to capture the delightful colors, shapes & smells that are still to be found there...