Page 28 - Cape-Camera-Nov-Dec-2021

November/December 2021 Cape Camera

permitting, we stood for hours on the foredeck, just drinking in said ”No, that was SNOW!” and everyone burst out laughing.
the amazing scenery. How can I a 50+ year-old person never have seen snowflakes
The crew members were always cleaning, scrubbing and paint- falling? I was so embarassed, and said that I had always thought
ing the ship when the weather was good. Once I was standing snow would fall in 1 inch blobs. That story went all over the ship
alone on one of the upper decks, and noted that millions of tiny, and so many people came to me afterwards and asked about
1 to 3 mm white flakes were falling on me, and I remarked af- our life in South Africa, where we don’t ever see snow fall. From
terwards to friends at dinner, that they must be scraping paint then on they always shouted “Call Elmara!” when it snowed! But
at the top, as these little white flakes were flying all around me we had mostly sunny days, or it was overcast, but never rain.
up there on deck. They all looked at me puzzled, until someone

Iceberg in Antarctica Zodiac transfer to land in Antarctica Icebergs come in all shapes and sizes

My photographic equipment Some travel advice
On my first trip in 2001, I went with my Sony SLR and a stack of Yes, a 3-week trip it is expensive and will cost today between
films. I came home with 84 rolls of 36 exposures each. Develop- R240,000 and R525,000 (depending on the cabin type), but it
ing and printing was R7 300 - at that time, nearly twice the price is an experience of a lifetime and photographically absolutely
of my return air tickets to Ushuaia. The second time, I took my magic. However, don’t be tempted to go on a big ship (although
new digital Sony, but the size of the photos were then not even it might be cheaper), because you will only be able to land half
2 MB and the printed photographs are of a much higher quality the time as there are very strict international laws about how
than the digital photos and I do treasure them. many people may land at one place at a time in the Antarctic
All my equipment was in a small backpack which went ashore (it used to be 50 when I was there). That means you might not
with me every time. It contained my camera (in a large Tupper- get that many opportunities to be allocated time in the Zodiacs
ware box), lenses, extra films - later extra memory cards (also in to land at bays and islands and you will have to stay behind on
watertight boxes until we landed) and the batteries in a small board ship, watching it all on TV. I also do not recommend go-
padded bag that I kept in my bra. Also necessary are very good ing on an 8-day trip because it only give you three days on the
gloves, with finger parts that can be peeled down when using Antarctic Peninsula, which, in my view, is a complete waste of
the camera. money.

Amongst the Kings. S Georgia Macaroni pengiuns. S. Georgia Iceberg with pengiuns

Glacier pouring down Kodak Channel. Antartica Peninsula Beauty of the ice

All photographs by Elmara Willis

27 Cape Town Photographic Society