Photos of Antarctica by My Friend, Albert Knapp, M.D.
As many of you know, I am an avid photographer and enjoy taking pictures whenever I travel.
Several weeks ago, my friends, Albert B. Knapp, M.D. and his wife, Ruth Oratz, M.D., and I, traveled to Antarctica, Earth's southernmost continent. At more than five-million square miles, Antarctica is also the fifth largest continent - twice the size of Australia. Our journey was part of a photography expedition that took us through the most beautiful ice-filled bays, harbors and straits. During our voyage, we came across breathtaking sights - giant icebergs, stunning sunsets and the most fantastic mountain ranges. We also saw a large number of diverse wildlife, including seals, countless penguins and many other sea birds.
Both Dr. Knapp and Dr. Oratz share my passion for photography - they’ve been taking nature photos for many years. Upon our return, Dr. Knapp sent me this selection of images to share with you - I know you will enjoy them.
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- On our way to Antarctica, we made a stop in Patagonia. Patagonia is a region surrounding the vast southernmost tip of South America, shared by Argentina and Chile, with the Andes Mountains. Dr. Knapp took this spectacular photo of the clouds overhead.
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- This is King George Island, the largest of the South Shetland Islands off the coast of Antarctica in the Southern Ocean.
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- This giant oil barrel is at the Eduardo Frei Station, the Chilean base in Antarctica, commonly used for its landing strip by many Antarctic cruise operators. The base lies within the Fildes Peninsula, slightly west on King George Island in the South Shetland Islands.
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- This photo is of the propellor on one of the lifeboats of our ship, Ocean Nova.
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- This gorgeous sunset photo was taken at Bransfield Strait, a body of water about 60-miles wide and 300-miles long between the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula.
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- Dr. Knapp took this photograph in the Gerlache Strait. Also known as de Gerlache Strait or Détroit de la Belgica, it is a channel separating the Palmer Archipelago from the Antarctic Peninsula.
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- Here is a beautiful and most natural photo of the clouds and the mountains over Gerlache Strait.
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- All these photos are taken from our ship – the blue iceberg looks so small in front of the massive mountains behind it.
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- The Gerlache Strait is filled with spiky blue icebergs, snow and mountains.
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- Lemaire Channel is a strait off Antarctica, between Kiev Peninsula in the mainland’s Graham Land and Booth Island. Dr. Knapp took this photo to show the amazing details in the ice formations.
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- This is Pleneau Bay. Pleneau Bay is home to a collection of icebergs in an area known as Iceberg Graveyard.
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- Iceberg Graveyard is where frozen structures of all shapes and sizes have drifted from other locations.
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- These icebergs are filled with thousands of intricately carved spires, arches, and blocks. Icebergs that have been formed from older glaciers have little internal air or reflective surfaces, so when the sun hits the iceberg, it is absorbed, not reflected, giving it a blue or blue-green color.
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- Here is another beautiful iceberg photo taken by Dr. Knapp in Pleneau Bay.
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- This formation appears to almost have a “figure-eight” shaped hole – so interesting.
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- The Fish Islands are a group of small islands lying in the northern part of the entrance to Holtedahl Bay, off the west coast of Graham Land in Antarctica. Here, a large chunk of ice separated from the iceberg – you can see where it broke off.
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- Crystal Sound is between the southern part of the Biscoe Islands and the coast of Graham Land. It was so named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1960 because many features in the sound are named for men who have undertaken research on the structure of ice crystals.
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- And here is Hanusse Bay, a 20-mile long bay lying between the northern portions of Adelaide Island and Arrowsmith Peninsula. These large ice pieces have broken off icebergs and are drifting out to sea.
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- Here is another iceberg in Hanusse Bay, with the Zodiac boat next to it.
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- Dr. Knapp captured this photo of a section of an iceberg in Hanusse Bay. Many of the icebergs are hundreds of feet tall.
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- Boats are not allowed to travel through the formations because ice could come crashing down at any moment – we were always a safe distance away.
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- More spectacular details in this iceberg, or ice mountain. These giant icebergs are all pieces of freshwater ice that have broken off glaciers or ice shelves and are now floating freely in the open waters.
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- In this photo, Dr. Knapp shows how choppy the waters can get.
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- This photo shows a cavernous section of one of the icebergs, with light shining from above.
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- Dr. Knapp looked through a crack in this section of an iceberg to photograph the mountains beyond.
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- The Adélie penguin is a species of penguin common along the entire Antarctic coast, which is their only residence.
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- They are among the most southerly distributed of all seabirds, along with the emperor penguin, the south polar skua, Wilson’s storm petrel, the snow petrel, and the Antarctic petrel. They breed from October to February on the shores of the Antarctic.
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- Here is an abstract photo showing the icebergs and ripples in the waters below.
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- The Weddell seal, Leptonychotes weddellii, is a relatively large seal. Dr. Knapp got this quick photo of it in Hanusse Bay. They are very vocal – so vocal that many times, their calls can be heard from atop the ice even when seals themselves are below water.
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- Here are two Antarctic fur seals conversing. The Antarctic fur seal is one of eight seals in the genus Arctocephalus, and one of nine fur seals in the subfamily Arctocephalinae. They are are usually brown with a slightly more light brown or grey tone.
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- This is a sunset photo showing drifting ice, icebergs, and the mountains in the distance.
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- The Argentine Islands are a group of islands in the Wilhelm Archipelago of Antarctica, situated about five nautical miles southwest of Petermann Island, and four nautical miles northwest of Cape Tuxen on Kiev Peninsula.
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- Here is a spectacular iceberg in the Argentine Islands – again, hundreds of feet tall.
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- This is Wiencke Island, the southernmost of the major islands of the Palmer Archipelago, lying between Anvers Island to its north and the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The small base station is used as a shelter for those who get stranded in the area.
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- These are gentoo penguins. The long-tailed gentoo penguin is a penguin species in the genus Pygoscelis, most closely related to the Adélie penguin seen earlier.
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- With their red-orange beaks, white-feather caps, and peach-colored feet, gentoo penguins are hard to miss on the gray colored, rock-strewn Antarctic landscape.
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- Here is a gentoo penguin looking at his reflection in the water.
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- And this is a gentoo feeding its young.
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- Paradise Harbor, also known as Paradise Bay, is a wide embayment behind Lemaire and Bryde Islands in Antarctica. This photo is a close-up abstract image of one of the icebergs.
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- The name was first applied by whalers operating in the vicinity around 1920. It is one of only two harbors used for cruise ships to stop on the continent; the other is Neko Harbor.
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- Dr. Knapp’s wife, Dr. Ruth Oratz, is also an avid and very talented photographer. I will share some of her photos in the next blog. It was an incredible excursion for us all.
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