The history of photography in Antarctica was the subject of today’s talk by Dr Adele Jackson, Curator of Human History at Canterbury Museum. Her area of interest is the interrelationships between culture and nature, and she gave us an outline of how image-making in Antarctica has developed. John Herschel was the person who first coined the term photography in 1839, and applied the terms negative and positive to it.
The first photographs of penguins and icebergs were made on glass plates in 1887 during the Challenger Expedition. This began a tradition of recording when a ship first meets an iceberg, and was part of the heroic era of exploration. The images conveyed vulnerability and resilience, inspiring awe and fear.
Frank Hurley and Herbert Ponting were early Antarctic photographers. Their photos were carefully posed, ensuring spectacle and drama, and usually featuring a “hero”. Hurley was inclined to manipulate his photographs, in a precursor of today’s photo-shopping. Some of the early photographs were hand tinted, which, for instance, showed the blood red water around whaling stations.
From 1960 there was more creative experimentation around image-making technologies. Swiss photographer Emil Schulthess produced a book of photographs of Antarctica. In 1972 satellite images became available, and today radar can show us what is beneath the ice. From the 1970s photos have been used for environmental purposes, and tend to be focussed on the landscape rather than on people.
Since 2003 Craig Potton and Andris Apse have published Antarctic photos, e.g. of the Dry Valleys. There are also photos of wildlife beneath the ice, and such photos can promote environmental values. They also inspire tourism which can put pressure on a fragile environment.
The Antarctic Heritage Trust website features photos of such things as Hillary’s Hut.
In recent years photogrammetry has enabled 3D modelling (such as the images we’ve seen this month of the sunken Titanic). Photos can be either aesthetic or scientific. Gabby O’Connor has depicted sea-ice crystals or platelets. Camille Seaman has made portraits of icebergs which she calls ancestors. Chris Drury made site specific temporary artworks.
Our speaker Adele Jackson has used pinhole cameras to make images of Antarctic Sunlines, including an image which is a 360° solargraph taken at the South Pole, and made up of four combined images. This gives us a glimpse of the whole planet, and relates it to our place in the universe. Adele spent four seasons on the ice at Port Lockroy, living in a tiny hut with three other people. Scientists have told her that there are now more wet seasons, and more snowfall, which may be an effect of climate change.
This was a enthralling talk illustrated with many wonderful images.
This southern land has been portrayed
by many who went and surveyed