Saturday 4 April 2009

Polar archive

Grotto in a berg. The British Antarctic Expedition ship, the Terra Nova, is in the distance - Jan. 5th 1911.

Listening to a BBC podcast recently, i heard about the Freeze Frame online photographic archive of polar photographs covering nearly 100 years of polar expeditions. The images number over 20,000 and cover virtually every aspect of polar exploration from wildlife to portraits of the explorers themselves.

The skill of the photographers working in the cold conditions is particularly impressive. Film become brittle in the sub zero temperatures and camera controls can jam solid due to the cold. One photographer's work, Herbert George Ponting, is especially worth taking a look at. His well composed and artistic images capture the landscape, men and experiences of the explorers beautifully.

The fascinating Freeze frame archive can be found HERE.

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