Adult King Penguin – Stationed at the perimeter’s edge of a penguin colony, this adult King Penguin came out of the rookery and posed for this candid portrait.
Aside from health concerns, my biggest frustration with the current pandemic is its negative effect on tourism. As a nature tour guide, my activities have dwindled from extended journeys in exotic locations to short local excursions around my home patch. Sadly, I haven’t enjoyed an international tour since late 2019. On the bright side however, I’m re-discovering my local region. I’m also busy finishing several home projects. This winter has been particularly slow affording me much time to review archived image files.
Crabeater Seal – One of the most common mammals in the world, Crabeater Seals are well adapted to Antarctic conditions.
Before the pandemic, my work took me around the world including tropical destinations and expedition cruises in Polar regions. My responsibilities included finding wildlife and bringing them to people’s attention. I’d also provide photography instruction and create slideshows specific to our voyages. Over the last decade, I’ve managed to collect dozens of terabits worth of RAW image files.
Fortunately, back in 2007, after converting from analog to digital photography, I had the foresight to save all my RAW files for the day when I develop better photo editing skills. I figured that even the bad images could eventually be fixed.
Gentoo Penguin adult with two chicks – Although populations of Gentoo Penguins are in decline, their numbers appear to be increasing along the Antarctic Peninsula.
Today, with all this down-time on my hands, I’ve finally got plenty of opportunities to search through my endless data for hidden treasures. It’s easy to miss a gem concealed amongst hundreds of mediocre files. As a bonus, I’m enjoying the thrills with each new discovery unfolding while I scan through old hard drives. The review process revives many fond memories of the destination. It’s like reliving the entire adventure all over again.
Adult Gentoo Penguin – animated and active, Gentoo Penguins never fail to entertain.
Here are just a handful of images I’ve recently discovered from my first pandemic-inspired review. This is the first time these images have been converted from their original RAW format. With another 40-plus hard drives to scan through, the pandemic should be over before I get through them all. Stay tuned…
Iceberg – Icebergs come in many different sizes and shapes. The blue colour is from compressed ice.
Adult Black-browed Albatross – The Black-browed Albatross is one of the most striking creatures of the southern oceans. I always enjoy capturing them photographically as they follow our ship.
adult Dolphin Gull – Between each Antarctic adventure, we have a few hours of free time to explore the port of Ushuaia. The Tierra del Fuego coastline is rich with much wildlife. Attractive birds like this Dolphin gull are common and easily approached here.
adult female Upland Goose – This attractive female Upland Goose is abundant in Tierra del Fuego and also on the Falkland Islands.
Adult Southern Lapwing – A common and beautiful shorebird of South and Central America, these birds are very common nesters in Tierra del Fuego and easily photographed while on shore in Ushuaia between voyages.
Pintado Petrel (Cape Petrel) – One of my favourite petrels is the Pintado Petrel – a common seabird of the southern oceans. Their upper parts reveal a pattern similar to Chocolate Cookie Icecream.
Molting Light-mantled Albatross – Arguably the most graceful flyer in the avain world, it’s always a thrill to see Light-mantled Albatross following our ship through the southern oceans.
© Tony Beck 2021
About Tony Beck
Tony Beck is an award winning, Nikon Ambassador, freelance photographer based in Ottawa. He teaches birdwatching and nature photography courses. Follow Tony’s adventures at www.AlwaysAnAdventure.ca
Great article. As much as I miss travel, I have enjoyed doing a deep dive into 14 years of digital images and discovering many images I had overlooked the first time through.
Post processing software and my skills have improved since the first time through and I am finding many images are worth printing.