May 10 2008
May 10 2008
Antarctic Light (photos by Dann Blackwood).
Antarctic Light (photo by Dann Blackwood).
The beautiful mouth parts of a Gorgonocephalus basket star (photo by Dann Blackwood).
A deep-sea Octocoral found at Burdwood Bank.
Tina van de Flierdt, Rhian Waller and Taryn Noble clean up the wet lab after the rock sawing by the geologists.
Zim Zimmerman, overseeing the scientists cleaning up the wet lab.
We are in transit to a sample site just north of Elephant Island. Though our initial time of arrival was 4am on the 11th, that has slipped back to around 10am because of fog slowing the ship down. In most areas of the world, ships passing through fog in the middle of the ocean (so no land around) would continue at full speed, but here in the Southern Ocean, where the smaller icebergs sometimes don’t show up on the radar, we have to slow our pace and watchers on the bridge keep an eye out into the darkness. So we are waiting, watching and preparing to get back to sampling in just a few short hours.
Here are a few words of contemplation from Dann Blackwood, from the USGS, who has been taking most of the wonderful pictures up on our website.
Photography on the Southern Ocean:
Photo Graph. Writing with Light.
It is all about the Light.
Antarctic light, ethereal and soft, then seconds later, it can become blazingly harsh and dramatic.
Light falling on hard ice and seafloor rocks, flowing water, cold steel, delicate creatures and human visitors.
I was once given the advice, “find good light, then put something good in front of it.”
On this trip on the Nathaniel B. Palmer in the Southern Ocean I have many photographic opportunities. To document what is brought up from the seafloor, show what life at sea is like, and try to convey what this extreme environment looks and feels like. This has been my first time on this boat and in this part of the world. It has been a challenge of a lifetime so far. I have never been on such a wonderful, versatile, and capable ship, combined with an amazingly talented crew and scientific party. Photography is a great tool to try to convey what goes on out here.
When photographing science operations on the main deck the first order of business is safety. Steel toe boots, hardhat, and flotation coat are needed. Light is often marginal so I shoot with a flash sometimes to brighten things up and try to balance it with the ambient light. Waves coming onto the deck make getting the photo and keeping the camera protected a challenge. I thought I would have to put the camera in a plastic bag when I went back in to the lab to prevent condensation. So far it hasn’t been a problem. I suspect the air is dry enough in the interior of the boat that it doesn’t fog up.
When doing biological sampling at sea the trawl tends to pack the specimens tightly together in the end of the net. It is a wonder when sometimes very delicate creatures make it through mostly unscathed. It can be a varied mix of hard corals, rock, soft living organisms and sand, mud, or gravel. We try to select representative organisms, sort through them, and photograph them quickly. When preserved in formalin they loose their color and assume positions unlike that when they are alive. I try to photograph them in water, their habitat, not in air where we tend to be. They appear more natural but can sometimes it can be a bit tricky to keep them in position when the boat is rolling and or pitching. Light from electronic flash units placed low and from each side, help to model their features and keep reflections to a minimum. I often use a polyethylene tank to diffuse the light.
We were able to keep some of living corals alive in small tanks at near freezing temperatures. They would come out over the course of many hours and show off their colorful beauty. If you gently move them you can adjust their position for photography without having them retract. Sometimes I would shoot through the sloping surface of a specially designed tank. Other times it worked out best to hold them just under the water and shoot from above the water. With the flash units positioned correctly from the sides, reflections were kept under control.
The Palmer tries not to come too close to icebergs for safety reasons, so a telephoto has been helpful to show off the intricate structure and varied textures of the ice. Light can be anything from direct sun on brilliant white with deep shadows to a foggy grey monochrome. This southern ocean light challenges me, and my camera’s sensitivity, and the imaging ability of the miracle we call “light writing”.
On Icebergs
Ice and Water.
So close in composition but
Opposed in every way.
Brutal cold hardness relentlessly worn down
by the deceptively powerful force of
liquid moving water.
And only because of minute differences
in temperature and form.
Interacting, blending, and separating,
with temperature as the Wizard,
eternally through time.
Thought of the day.
“What would the world be like if ice sank in water instead of floating in it?”