It’s been a whirlwind of travel for the last few years. Now, I’m officially bipolar, meaning that I have visited both extremes of the earth, both by virtue of traveling with National Geographic Expeditions. The first trip was towards the North Pole in Svalbard, exploring the Norwegian archipelago by icebreaker. Then, most recently, down to the Southern Ocean to the Antarctic Peninsula and the islands of South Georgia and the Falkland Islands.
South Georgia is one of the most incredible, and remote, places on the planet. During the turn of the last century, South Georgia was home to numerous natural resource extraction operations. Animals were harvested to the point where a number of species, including whales, fur seals and penguins, were hunted to near extinction. Since these operations were shut down during the 1960’s, a number of species have now recovered. Since South Georgia has a tiny human population, the animals are completely perplexed but not frightened by human presence. For wildlife photography, it’s difficult to find a more interesting and beautiful place.
One of my images from South Georgia at a landing called Gold Harbour was used on one of the expedition program guide’s covers. I’ll never forget this morning. We had gotten up before daybreak to catch the morning light and although we only had it for a few moments, we were able to capture a number of gorgeous images of the King penguins in the golden hour of dawn.
Commercial, Editorial and Travel Photographer Susan Seubert 