I entered a photo contest...

I have a few photos from the last few months that I really like so I decided to pick a few and enter them in a photo contest.  It would be awesome if you have an extra minute to go and vote for them.  

The Milky Way photo is at: http://www.greatoutdoorscontest.com/bin/Rate?image_id=2011300249 

This penguin photo is at: http://www.greatoutdoorscontest.com/bin/Rate?image_id=2011300248

Thanks for the help!

My First Aurora Australis

I wanted to wait a few more days to post more photos, but after last night I simply can't wait.

I was in a hurry to leave McMurdo and get out to a small hut on the McMurdo Ice Shelf called Square Frame.  Square Frame is a large insulated box with a few windows that sits on top of a man-made snow drift and contains a few beds, a couch, a heater, propane stove and card table.  It is maintained by the Kiwis, but is set aside for one weekend a month for the Americans to use.  The USAP used to have a hut near here called the A-Frame, but that blew away in a storm years ago and I think the Kiwis decided to mock us by putting up the Square Frame.  No one else signed up on Saturday night so we got the place to ourselves.   

Square Frame with Mt Erebus in the background

The sun set about an hour before we arrived at Square Frame, but the few clouds in the sky were still highlighted in orange.  The rumors of auroras and a meteor shower (and a clear night) left me eagerly anticipating the darkness.

One of my first Milky Way & aurora photos

It was great to be out of McMurdo and again enjoy the simplicity of no electricity or internet.  To pass through the twilight hours I beat Liz in a few games of cribbage and started watching the movie Encounters At the End of the World.  It's a movie about the people who work at USAP and about being down here.  After spending the last six and a half months down here I could only shake my head at what Werner Herzog (director & narrator) had to say about his little bit of time down here.  I would highly recommend watching the movie on mute with some great music in place of his negative tone and terribly accented dialog.

Just like a little kid, every few minutes I would get up and run to the window to see how dark it was outside and see how many stars were out or if the auroras were starting yet.  

New Zealand's Scott Base and the aurora 

Finally it came to the point that I decided it was either dark enough or I couldn't handle Herzog's voice anymore and it was time to go outside and take some photos.  It took some time to set our cameras and layers of clothing ready to go.  

Amazingly there was no wind and the temperature felt fairly warm (for Antarctica) so it was pleasant to stand around outside for awhile.  I imagined some of the photos that could be taken, but I had no idea what would actually show up in my camera after that first shot.  I've always drooled over photos of the Milky Way and auroras.  After recently doing some research I had an idea of how to capture them.  But what appeared on the cold, tiny LCD screen blew me away.  I wanted to keep taking the same photos over and over again just to prove to myself that these photos were real.  

I went back in to warm up and finish the movie and prepared to head out again.  I wanted to take photos throughout the night, but wanted to get some sleep also.  I hooked up a remote and put that in a mitten filled with hand warmers.  I also put hand and toe warmers all over the camera (concentrated around the battery) and wrapped the whole set up in a Patagonia Nano Puff Jacket, MicroPuff Jacket, DAS Parka and a pair of puffy pants.  I set the camera to take 30 second exposures with 30 seconds in between for 180 shots.  I didn't think the batteries would last that long.  This worked!  I'll put together a time lapse movie of what happened and post it soon.

One of the photos that my camera captured while I was asleep.

If this is just a glimpse of what the winter has to offer I'm even more excited about the darkness and trying to hone my star and aurora photography skills.

This was a learning experience.  I think I know how to do it better next time!

Antarctic Sunsets Part 5

The days have dragged on and on this week.  For most of the week I couldn't figure out why the days suddenly seemed so much longer.  I didn't know what suddenly changed....

Last weekend we "fell back an hour" to end daylight savings time.  Between this, and the days becoming so much shorter, the sun now rises after I go to work and sets before I get off work.  I look out the window in the early afternoon and see evening light which makes me feel like I should be getting off work soon.  But hours later the sun finally goes down and hours after that I finally get off work.  

Scott's Discovery Hut & McMurdo (the unwatermarked version of this one goes on the McMurdo Station report to Washington D.C. next week)

A storm approaching from the south.

 I guess I'll be able to take a few more sunset photos next week AT LUNCH!  

Antarctica Sunsets Part 4

Sun dips behind Hut Point and Scott's Hut on 4/3/13

There are only 18 sunsets left.  I know those 18 days are going to fly by and many of them will be obscured by bad weather, but I already wish the sun was set.  We're losing 16 minutes of daylight each day and it seems like such a long drawn out teaser for the darkness.

The sea ice breaks out of McMurdo Sound with Mt. Discovery in the distance.

4/3/13

 I feel pressured by no one but myself to take as many sunset photos as I can right now because soon it'll be so dark that I won't know where I am.   

4/3/13

I keep forgetting that I am in Antarctica, but when it's too dark to see that I am in Antarctica where will I feel that I am?  Strange to think about not seeing where you are in the world.

The ghosts from Scott's Expedition are emerging this winter

4/3/13

6 Months in Antarctica

I walked outside after tonight’s SAR training feeling overwhelmed by the need to organize so much training for the winter SAR team in the next few weeks.  I stopped in my tracks because something was different.  Yes, it was dark out, but it’s been getting dark at night for a few weeks now.  The wind wasn’t blowing a hard as usual so I was able to take off my hood and stand still for a moment without immediately freezing.  There were a few dozen stars in the moonlit sky and a slight orange glow highlighted the mountains to the West.  This scene calmed my overwhelming thoughts and the rest of my walk home was full of excitement about a few months of darkness.

I landed in Antarctica 6 months and 10 hours ago.  This has been the longest I’ve stayed in one place since high school.  My college semesters didn’t even last this long.  Part of me feels trapped here, but the other part is relieved to know where I am sleeping every night and know that I have a paycheck every two weeks and do not have to worry about catching the next plane to somewhere in the world.

Windy Sunset

I don’t know how much has changed about me since I got here.  But I have adapted to be content with where on earth I am and what my life is right now.  I have watched everything change around me.  The sunlight and sea ice have gone from being ever-present in my life to disappearing and reappearing on a daily basis—all trending toward disappearing all together.  This cycle will reverse itself before I know it.   The faces of the people around me have changed and now the few faces that I see will get paler and paler, except for the bright red moments when one enters a building from the biting wind and cold.

I’m pretty excited about what the next six months in Antarctica have to bring.

Easter/Beaster/Beerster in McMurdo

Decorated beers instead of eggs.