In 2019, I was a guest of the National Science Foundation at McMurdo Station, to do research for my graphic novel under the Antarctic Artists & Writers Program. Part of the deal was writing up my experience on the Ice. I am moving these articles from my portfolio site to here, where they belong, and indexing them on this page. This is not a complete directory yet, but will be.
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Discovery Hut Photo Tour
My first full day in Antarctica was the coldest of the whole trip. I noted in my journal that it was -4°F/-20°C – I don’t recall if that was with wind chill or without, but it was definitely windy that day, so you…
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Arrival Heights
With the heavy schedule of trainings and breakfast meetings, I fought to get every ounce of sleep I could. Word on the street was that the light was much better for photography at ‘night’, when the sun was lower in the sky –…
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Sea Ice Basics
Antarctica is, as we all know, a continent of ice. But the ice isn’t just the ice caps and glaciers on the continent itself – it extends off the coast in all directions as the Southern Ocean seasonally freezes over. This fringe of…
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Sea Ice: Crack Safety
Water ice is a curious material: though apparently a solid, it can nevertheless flow, bend, and wrinkle. The mile-thick Antarctic ice cap is very gradually flowing out to the edges of the continent, through the mountains in glaciers, and when those glaciers leave…
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The Road to Cape Evans
Having done Sea Ice training at last, I was clear to head out on snowmobile. My coordinator’s intent had been to do a ‘shakedown’ one day – a practice run, to get used to the vehicles, how to load and tie down the…
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Cape Evans, Exterior
I have enough photos of the interior of the Cape Evans hut to fill twenty posts, but to get a good idea of the context for the hut, let’s do a little exploring outside, first. If you are standing facing the hut as…
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Cape Evans: Men’s Quarters
It’s time to step into the Terra Nova hut. Look, the door is already open. It’s open because the Antarctic Heritage Trust is here doing their annual check-up. Just because they’re here, though, doesn’t mean you don’t have to do the same boot-brush-and-sign-in…
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Cape Evans: The Tenements
As we walk deeper into the hut from the mens’ quarters, coming through the gap in the bulkhead, the view looks like this: Today we’re going to look at the section to our left, or mapping the hut in nautical terms, starboard amidships.…
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Cape Evans: Aft Cabins
Coming out of the Tenements, we proceed down towards the end of the wardroom and find ourselves looking into a corner that is almost, but not quite, its own little room. This is where Captain Scott’s bunk was, as well as that of…