| HOW WAS ANTARCTICA? |

When people ask me, “How was Antarctica?” I usually struggle to find words to describe my experience. I do know that my experience in Antarctica transformed and forever changed me. Never in my entire life have I ever been in such close proximity to so much wildlife and such raw, untouched beauty. Penguins walked up to me and bit my fingers and my camera. Fur seals charged at me to the point where I would have to throw blows to fend them off (they were actually much more aggressive than the bulls I ran with in Pamplona, Spain). There was magic everywhere and so many choices when it came down to deciding what to photograph. Antarctica humbled me, taught me so much, gave me a better appreciation for our planet, and is truly unlike any other place on earth.

I’ve always dreamed of going to Antarctica ever since I was in 4th grade, and Antarctica made me feel like a kid in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, enthralled and captivated by pretty much everything I saw, felt, and experienced. Our expedition leader told me that I found my wings.

Thank you for following along and for allowing me to share some of my images and stories. I’m forever grateful to be able to share these stories and I hope I have inspired you in one way or another.
I will leave you with a quote about Antarctica that resonated with me:

“Take the rockies, the alps, and Mount Washington, cover them with thick, crusted snow that, like frosting spread by a giant’s hand, has spilled down over the land, to end in a jagged, uneven boarder where it meets the sea.

Imagine yourself on a spaceship in another world - a world that for 10 million years has been locked away behind ramparts of ice and where escape is blocked in all directions by a cruel, cold ocean.

Take all the adjectives in Mr. Roget’s thesaurus and you still haven’t got it, not even Mr. Roget’s best can convey one’s first impression of that vast, mysterious immensity of ice. It’s a lesson in humility, an unforgettable reminder of man’s immortality, and it is like no other place on earth.”

- Jenny Darlington

#antarcticaordie

(at Antarctica)