Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2006 (18. évfolyam, 1-50. szám)
2006-08-25 / 33. szám
Adelie Penguins and lenses. During shooting I was careful to exhale away from the lens or the viewfinder, so no frost will collect on them ruining my shots. Dressing up correctly is very important. In cold and wet weather cotton offers no protection if it gets wet. I used layers of synthetics from Patagonia clothing and a well designed outer jacket from Ship to Shore, the largest supplier of Antarctic explorer ships. It is still difficult to reach this, the most isolated continent of all. You can either take a long, arduous voyage by ship or an expensive flight. Los Angeles to Buenos Aires is approximately 11 hours. From Buenos Aires it is another four hours to reach the “End of the World”, Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city on Earth. Ushuaia is the closest point to the Antarctic Peninsula, 670 miles, about two days of rough seas to reach. Our ship, the legendary Explorer, built by Lars-Eric Lindblad especially for Antarctic expeditions in 1969, has made the trip more than 250 times. Antarctic tour companies emphasize that weather and ice set the schedule of any trip. Not surprising, since the wind speeds can reach 200 mph, and the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was here, -129.3 °F. Few people know that Antarctica has less precipitation then most of the deserts on Earth. It is the highest average continent above sea level, more than 9,000 feet, the most desolate and the largest ice mass anywhere. All these extremes point to Antarctica’s spectacular wilderness of landscapes, haphazard forms of ice shaped by wind and water, rugged mountain ranges, all filled with wildlife still unafraid of humans. Visiting here at times I felt that I was on a different planet, and Buenos Aires and Los Angeles happened centuries ago. The giant icebergs and ice shelves make Antarctica one of the most beautiful places on Earth. The vast mountain ranges and the huge empty space surrounding the polar region boggle the Soothy Shearwater in flight Cormorant in flight ANTARCTICA - The Land of Extremes , By MICHAEL HANYECZ When you have traveled to 130 countries on six continents, it is not so easy to find a completely new destination. Antarctica was on my wish list for many years, but never had the timing and a reputable tour operator come together. This year however I got lucky. I signed up with G.A.P. Adventures well in advance to ensure a space for my wife, friends and myself. The Antarctica Classic is a 10 days long trip and visits some of the Shetland Islands and a few places on the Antarctic Peninsula itself, but does not go south of the Antarctic Circle. It was hard to choose from the many tour companies, but none have the experience that the M/S Explorer, owned by G.A.P. Adventures has. In preparation for the trip I started to go through my photo gear and put everything to a rigorous test in November. 1 tested all circuits of my cameras, took both of my 8 megapixel Olympus bodies, the E-300 and the newer E-500.1 was especially curious how the new E-500 would stand up to the expedition’s most likely harsh conditions, the ever present dust, wind and maybe even rain. However, the most challenging problem I planned for was the cold temperature. Most digital cameras are rated to 32 °F/ 0 °C; and at that temperature the batteries can not deliver their full rated power. The simplest solution was. to carry my spare batteries in an inside pocket to keep them warm. I also used lithium A A batteries for my flash. They last up to seven times longer and weigh one third less than standard alkaline batteries. From my previous cold weather experience well above the Arctic Circle I remembered to use a large Zip-lock bag when I returned to the ship from outside. This way the warm humid air did not condense onto my camera mind. Our ship zigzagged its way around the myriad icebergs, small ones, barely 3-4 feet in diameter, to huge ones, some as long as a mile. When the winds picked up, to around 40 knots, our ship was listing 20° to both sides. Rounding the icebergs, I felt I could read everyone’s mind tattooed on their forehead: Titanic. Captain Paul Heslop skillfully maneuvered the “Little Red Ship” through the passages and icebergs. During my many visits to the bridge he explained the instruments and dials. A very unusual feature of the trip was the lack of telephone, e-mail, TV, or newspapers. Being cut-off seemed strange at first, but facing the desolation, the beauty and the wilderness of Antarctica make the outside world seem insignificant. The Captain made first landfall at Half Moon Island, at 59°32’ W, 64°28’S, part of the Shetland Islands, just north of the Antarctic Peninsula. Hanging my photo gear on my back under the survival flotation device, full wet boots, pants and all the under and outer wear I purchased especially for this trip was a unique experience. My wife and I snapped pictures of each other in our expedition gear while waiting for the Zodiac boats which whisked us from the Explorer to the shore. Stepping into freezing water and onto rocks and ice, I faced my first wild penguin. They are so small, and so numerous I was just Augusztus 25,2006 temperatures. Many of the passengers took a warm bath on the beach while the rest of the group, decked out in winter parkas, watched and photographed. I found the E-500’s buttons well positioned. To help me press the correct buttons I velcroed and taped a short plastic pointer to the top of one of the fingers of my heavy glove and used its rubber tip to push the buttons. The coldest temperature did not dip below 5 °F and the batteries lasted about 80-85% of their normal capacity. The cameras worked well, but sometimes the auto focus reacted a little sluggishly. Some of the other passengers’ cameras stopped working at this temperature. Shooting in a snow covered environment has its own challenges. The camera sees the mostly white animals on a white background and it is programmed to convert the image to an average 18% gray. With the bright sun shining on most days, which was very unusual, I had to open up my aperture 1.5 stops. On the days when the sun was covered by clouds, the camera’s daylight white balance turned the pictures to a cool blue scene. The advantage of a DSLR camera’s LCD Cape Petrel came through each and every time, after one or two shots I could determine with certainty the correct white balance to use. I also experimented with RAW files. With JPEG the maximum I could be off is 1 stop. More than that and even Adobe Photoshop can not correct my mistake. In RAW mode I could save all my underexposed images, even though by a fluke some were underexposed as much as three stops. My original plan to bring only a few of my lenses worked out well. I ended up taking my super-wide Olympus Zuiko 7-14 mm, f: 1:4 lens, the 14-54 mm f: 2.8-3.5 and 50-200 mm f: 2.8-3.5 lenses. For this trip I felt I would not need my 300 mm f:2.8 lens, and my 150 mm f:2 would be enough, since most animals can be approached fairly close. At the end I did not use the 150 mm lens at all, since most of time the penguins were less than a few feet away from me. For most of the flying bird shots the 50-200 mm was adequate. I purchased two additional batteries and took both battery chargers with me including the correct AC plug adapters. I used my Lexar 2 GB 80x high speed CF cards. One of the most important things in my bag is a back-up unit: I took my trusted EZDigiMagic model # DM 180. This unit is small, approx. 3” square and 1” thick device, capable to back-up 7 different memory cards with its built-in readers/connectors and has a long life Li-Ion rechargeable battery. It can also be charged by a mini USB cable, like my GSM world phone or directly from my laptop. This way I carried one less charger. For this trip I changed my useful Tamrac big wheel rolling photo backpack, to a LowePro DryPack #200. I read the available guidebooks, the tour operator’s brochures, and learned as much as I could from photographers who previously visited Antarctica. Guides who are familiar with the wildlife on this desolate continent tell us that the animals are not afraid of humans, but we should move slowly, deliberately, with fluid motions so we will not startle them. Since the most abundant animal on Antarctica is the penguin, I brushed up on my studies a little. Penguins are virtual caricatures of humans because of their upright walk, stubby wings that resemble our arms, expressive faces and nurturing behavior. Our naturalist guides advised us not to approach colonies closer .than ten feet. Sitting on the ground, made them feel safer and soon enough some of the more curious ones approached me within a few feet. One day a full size chic actually pecked on my gloves. Several international treaties protect the Antarctic environment and its unique wildlife. More than 40 countries are signatories to this treaty. Sitting on one of the protruding rocks on the beach of Brown Bluff Island, I was fascinated by the comings and goings of all the different animals present. Three varieties of penguins peacefully trotted up and down the cliffs on centuries old paths, walking with that funny gait, like miniature clowns in a body hugging tuxedo; the albatrosses, snow petrels, cormorants and skuas majestically soared above, their wings barely moving. The elephant seals rested nearby, communicating with their deep baritone grunts. One penguin mother was hoarding small pebbles to build a nest and to teach her young at the same time. The little one quickly caught on and soon was placing the pebbles in an orderly way around the nest. I was witnessing instinct at work and God’s smile in the faces of his creations. I was mesmerized and humbled at the same time at the grandeur of nature. I know that as a tourist I should take nothing but photos and leave nothing but footprints. I hope my footprints will be gone soon, washed away by the waves, by the ever-present wind, and the myriad steps of the animals present, who — I hope - will be there, undisturbed for our great-great-grand children, so they too can enjoy and stand with awe at the last pristine wilderness on Earth, Antarctica. LINKS: EZPnp - 800-828- 6475; www.ezpnp-usa.com Lexar Media - 800-789-9418; www.digitalfilm.com Olympus - 800-645-8160; www.olympusameriea.com LowePro - 800-800-5693; www.lowepro.com G.A.P. Adventures - 800-708- 7761; www.gapadventures.com Adelie Penguins - Devil’s Island staring at them and forgot to take pictures for a few minutes. The next five days were magical. We visited islands, the Antarctic Peninsula and got to less than 40 miles from the Antarctic Circle, which is at 66°33’S. At Deception Island, one of our stops, an active volcano is heating the water to comfortable Chinstrap Parents
