Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Landscape & Nature Photography => Topic started by: kenyee on February 08, 2009, 09:10:29 pm

Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: kenyee on February 08, 2009, 09:10:29 pm
Does anyone know how much these expeditions ended up costing?
It's never mentioned in the comments about all the gear failures on the Luminous Landscape site, so I'm wondering if it's "if you have to ask..." ;-)
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: Josh-H on February 08, 2009, 09:20:12 pm
Quote from: kenyee
Does anyone know how much these expeditions ended up costing?
It's never mentioned in the comments about all the gear failures on the Luminous Landscape site, so I'm wondering if it's "if you have to ask..." ;-)

Given its over $10,000 US to book the tour, plus flights to get there from wherever you are in the world, misc travel expenses, taxes, duties, accommodation before you get on the tour, photographic equipment, time off work or away from the business I think its definitely a case of 'If you have to ask....'
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: DarkPenguin on February 08, 2009, 09:46:28 pm
It's much cheaper to hop the fence at your local zoo and club the baby seals there.
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: Dan Bellyk on February 09, 2009, 12:54:36 am
Quote from: DarkPenguin
It's much cheaper to hop the fence at your local zoo and club the baby seals there.



LOL...not nice
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: neal1740 on February 09, 2009, 12:37:53 pm
my wife and i were in antarctica the same time as michael the price is as suggested the scenery especially the day before the lemaire passage and that day  is the most beautiful we have ever seen my cameras 5Dmark 11 50D and G10 worked well the zodiac staff was phenomenal weather 34-38  sunshhine almost 24 hours i would recommend this trip to anyone  besides the scenery penguins are adorable  my photos are on pbase zitsdoc  antarctica  thanks neal
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: kenyee on February 09, 2009, 02:16:43 pm
Quote from: DarkPenguin
It's much cheaper to hop the fence at your local zoo and club the baby seals there.

LOL.  Does this include legal fees?
Looks like my Pentax K20D won't be making next year's trip....3-4K I can probably swing but not 3x more :-P

zitsdoc: cool pics...bet it was a trip of a lifetime :-)
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: DarkPenguin on February 09, 2009, 03:02:18 pm
Quote from: kenyee
LOL.  Does this include legal fees?

I wouldn't linger.

As an aside ...

http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/antarctic/...ssic-antarctica (http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/antarctic/classic-antarctica/classic-antarctica)
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: jjj on February 09, 2009, 09:17:39 pm
Quote from: kenyee
LOL.  Does this include legal fees?
Looks like my Pentax K20D won't be making next year's trip....3-4K I can probably swing but not 3x more :-P
I doubt you'd even be allowed onboard with a mere Pentax.  
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: kenyee on February 10, 2009, 04:06:21 pm
Quote from: jjj
I doubt you'd even be allowed onboard with a mere Pentax.  

Some of the people in Neal's photos were carrying lowly P&S cams  
I'd bet my Pentax would survive the rains and saltwater better than all those 5D's though  
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: feppe on February 10, 2009, 04:31:45 pm
Quote from: John Schweikert
For the cost, I bet they would have thrown in some free punctuation marks after a trip like that.

Still laughing
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: jjj on February 10, 2009, 10:23:29 pm
Quote from: kenyee
Some of the people in Neal's photos were carrying lowly P&S cams  
I'd bet my Pentax would survive the rains and saltwater better than all those 5D's though  
I think Michael said many people had G10s, as well as their 1DSIIIs and Phase Ones.
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: inissila on February 11, 2009, 11:13:37 am

While the images from Antarctica can be spectacular, evocative etc. so can pictures from any of a number of local sites near to you, when properly photographed in good light. I think Antarctica has already been excessively covered by photographers and there is nothing new that is being produced. It's just repetitions of the same theme. Pretty, yes, but just more of the same. I wonder if the environmental
impact of touristy trips to faraway regions can somehow be justified by the value of the photography itself, or is it a case of "I want to do that too" and not caring about the impact. To me, I try to do my photography within a small radius of my home, and if I travel abroad for work, I'll combine the trip that is necessary for my work by adding a photography part of my own to it and returning a bit later. I do occasionally travel abroad just for myself but more and more I've come to conclude that the best work is usually done close to home, where you know the places and are familiar with the light and best time to photograph things. By traveling for photos, one usually ends up doing an inferior replica of work that has already been done many times.

My question is, why do you want to go to Antarctica (or the orbit, if you have the money for that), as opposed to a nice landscape near your home at a much lower cost?
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: michael on February 11, 2009, 12:44:27 pm
Well, when you put it that way, the whole of planet Earth has been pretty much "done".

Might as well just take a walk around the block. In any event, exotic travel is highly overrated.

Michael
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: kenyee on February 11, 2009, 03:29:28 pm
Quote from: inissila
My question is, why do you want to go to Antarctica (or the orbit, if you have the money for that), as opposed to a nice landscape near your home at a much lower cost?

I agree w/ Michael...sights are different and can only be partially captured in film.  It's like looking down the grand canyon for the first time and being awed by how big it is because photos can't capture 3D effectively.  Or snaking through Antelope Canyon and watching the sun light up the walls and having your camera capture colors your eyes can't see.

That said, I was trying to find out about the Luminous Landscape trip because they didn't have anyone go w/ Pentax DSLRs which seem like an ideal camera to bring w/ the effective weathersealing... :-)
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: daws on February 11, 2009, 03:41:46 pm
Quote from: inissila
My question is, why do you want to go to Antarctica (or the orbit, if you have the money for that), as opposed to a nice landscape near your home at a much lower cost?

Personally I don't think it's an either/or, but a "both."

I'd want to go to Antarctica for the same reason I go anywhere with a camera: to see it and to engage with it photographically.

Barring that possibility, I'd send photographers whose work I respect to see it and engage with it, and I'd view their photographs.

Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: inissila on February 11, 2009, 04:44:56 pm
Quote from: kenyee
sights are different and can only be partially captured in film.  It's like looking down the grand canyon for the first time and being awed by how big it is because photos can't capture 3D effectively.

I do get a feeling of awe looking at photographs taken of scenery at Antarctica - and I fully appreciate that the feeling is otherworldly when viewing the scenery on site, in person.
But I also get this feeling when I watch the lake from our little countryside house on an evening when the light is good.

It's the famous value question again. Is there no place more accessible than (say) Antarctica, which will give the sensations and the photos? For me, yes, and I can find many places that give me those feelings within a driving distance from home, given the right moment. The accessibility of nearby locations translates into better light in the photos. Familiarity may also reduce our interest but if that happens we need to open our eyes. Having lived abroad, I've learned that what is mundane to me might be extraordinary for someone else, and one can learn to look at the familiar with a different eye.

I don't want to sound too critical about going to faraway places, I enjoy people's stories and photography about them, but I don't think it's a cost-effective way of getting a feeling of awe or really good photography. Traveling to places that are very different from our homes may give us fresh ideas and motivation, of course, and that's great, but one doesn't need to go to the opposite side of the Earth for that. I think it's very human to want to experience the most extraordinary ... but it's really hard to succeed in making extraordinary photos of faraway extraordinary locations since you typically have less control of where you are and when than those who live near or have the opportunity to spend an extended time there.

Quote
That said, I was trying to find out about the Luminous Landscape trip because they didn't have anyone go w/ Pentax DSLRs which seem like an ideal camera to bring w/ the effective weathersealing... :-)

I like Pentax DSLRs myself, and the fact that they support old cheap manual focus primes. ;-) I am not sure why they're not more popular than they are. High ISO and image processing, maybe.
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: Ed Bacon on February 11, 2009, 10:23:29 pm
I started 2008 intending to mostly photograph only my backyard. I am very lucky to live in a very special and sensitive place. By staying home I dug in and found form, design, color everywhere and had a blast putting them together into images.

Sometime after Thanksgiving a spot opened on the LL Antarctica trip and my backyard got a lot bigger. I feel so very fortunate to experience this part of our earth that so few people have even seen. Words and photos just cannot convey what it is like to be there, but we still try to edit and sort and organize .... I stood on the deck washed in beautiful warm light for hours when the setting sun is separated from the rising sun by only a few minutes. The scale of the ice bergs and glacier made it clear how insignificant and lost we are in that vast scape. At times we sailed into fierce winds between black mountains covered in dark grey clouds as if we were about to go off the end of the earth. To be on deck you had to bundle in a parka and wrap your arm around the rail for stability. On another day we entered ice fields on the clearest of blue water reflecting the mountains like a perfect mirror. Here because there is virtually no haze, everything was absurdly sharp and I had the sureal sense of being in an animation. On crossing the Antarctic circle we had a toast of vodka with 10,000 year old ice cubes. These are things that can only be experienced by being there.

The impact of our journey absolutely was not lost on us. The very first instructions to us were not about Lightroom, but our responsibilities under Antarctic Treaties. We had protracted discussions on the environmental impact of our ship and the issues around the growing tourist industry on the Antarctic.

What is the relative value? Well, I cannot retire in the next year anymore, but who can? I know this trip has changed me and added much to my life; it absolutely was worth it.
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: michael on February 11, 2009, 10:45:45 pm
Ed – thank you for your moving comments. It was a pleasure sailing with you and the others. I only wish more photographers could themselves enjoy and then share with others more of the special remote places on our planet.

Michael
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: samirkharusi on February 12, 2009, 03:51:15 am
Quote from: michael
Ed – thank you for your moving comments. It was a pleasure sailing with you and the others. I only wish more photographers could themselves enjoy and then share with others more of the special remote places on our planet.

Michael
Michael, as a Canadian, you may be interested in arranging a trip "Up North" in the future. I grew up on the Equator and for my honeymoon way back in 1969, I really, really wanted to go to Frobisher Bay (northwest Passage, etc), now called Iqaluat(?), on Baffin Island. Sadly, we could not afford it, but then my new bride ended up doing her anthropology research in the Canadian High Arctic. So in the end I did get an opportunity to visit her for a couple of weeks at Igloolik, just north of the Arctic Circle. No penguins up north, but I did mingle with Eskimos (now the politically correct term, it seems, is Inuit). In those days their language did not seem to have a word for non-whites. Whites=Kadluna=Bushy Eyebrows, Inuit=Human. So when somebody wanted to locate me in the local supermarket he had to refer to that sort-of-Kadluna. These villages up north are truly out-of-this-world, the nearest tree being 1500+km to the south (Eastern Canada ain't Alaska!). For me, walking amongst icebergs on the feshly frozen ocean in October, was, well, out of this world. I think tourism has picked up since then, though I have not read much about it. Perhaps there is even a hotel at Igloolik or Pangnirtung or Resolute. Nice thing is, access is relatively easy, you fly in. Best time is not summer, unlike the Antarctic, but probably in Spring or Fall when the sea is frozen and one can make igloos. Anyway, just a thought.
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: michael on February 12, 2009, 08:43:22 am
I've been to the Canadian arctic a couple of times and don't find that it is that productive for photography, though fascinating in its own right.

I am thinking of Greenland though as a possible future destination, probably a small boat cruise.

Michael

Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: neal1740 on February 12, 2009, 09:05:05 am
Dear Ed, Love what you wrote.  We were there at the same time.  My wife and I agree with everything you said.  The night before the Lemaire passage without cameras, just enjoying the scenery and the day of the passage were visions that we will never forget.  Now we see why people keep going back.  I would recommend this trip to anyone capable of doing it.  neal1740
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: Philmar on February 12, 2009, 04:28:15 pm
Quote from: michael
I've been to the Canadian arctic a couple of times and don't find that it is that productive for photography, though fascinating in its own right.

I am thinking of Greenland though as a possible future destination, probably a small boat cruise.

Michael

Couple it with Iceland's volcanos and geysers -  and I'm there. Plus, I hear Iceland is rather cheap these days due to the financial meltdown. And it'd be good get there before the imminent environmental meltdown.


For 'other world' scenery you should look in to a trip to San Pedro de Atacama with an excursion through the Andean altiplano fo Bolivia to Uyuni, Bolivia. Within in that short distance you'll see incredible desert scenery, geysers, immense salt flats, red, green, blue and white lagoons teeming with flamingos. Throw in bizarre rock formations, cacti, obsure colourful lichen, wild vicuna and guanacos, rare condor sightings and volcanic peaks and you have an equally awe inspiring trip...

Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: wtlloyd on February 12, 2009, 07:12:48 pm
A steady diet of peaches, however lush and fragrant, would be monotonous.

Sometimes you just really want a banana.



Quote from: inissila
While the images from Antarctica can be spectacular, evocative etc. so can pictures from any of a number of local sites near to you, when properly photographed in good light. I think Antarctica has already been excessively covered by photographers and there is nothing new that is being produced. It's just repetitions of the same theme. Pretty, yes, but just more of the same. I wonder if the environmental
impact of touristy trips to faraway regions can somehow be justified by the value of the photography itself, or is it a case of "I want to do that too" and not caring about the impact. To me, I try to do my photography within a small radius of my home, and if I travel abroad for work, I'll combine the trip that is necessary for my work by adding a photography part of my own to it and returning a bit later. I do occasionally travel abroad just for myself but more and more I've come to conclude that the best work is usually done close to home, where you know the places and are familiar with the light and best time to photograph things. By traveling for photos, one usually ends up doing an inferior replica of work that has already been done many times.

My question is, why do you want to go to Antarctica (or the orbit, if you have the money for that), as opposed to a nice landscape near your home at a much lower cost?
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: Plekto on February 12, 2009, 10:26:06 pm
IMO, the best place to get nearly the same experience(seeing new, cool stuff you never knew existed) for a lot less cost is New Zealand.  Especially down south.  Loads safer as well(generally speaking) compared to many extreme locations.

Iceland is also nice so I hear.  Quick flight from the U.S. as well.
Title: Antarctica Expedition cost?
Post by: MichaelAlanBielat on April 23, 2009, 11:36:01 am
Quote from: inissila
My question is, why do you want to go to Antarctica (or the orbit, if you have the money for that), as opposed to a nice landscape near your home at a much lower cost?

Quite honestly, photo excursions are the best way to get revitalized and to help get that inspiration flowing through your veins. I have about 5 acres in my backyard and have the Niagara Falls just 25 miles. I am basically 30 minutes away from complete rural landscapes, the city of Buffalo, beaches (that get used for maybe 3 months here in Buffalo) and am right in suburbs so there is plenty to shoot but it does get "old" IMHO.

Absolutely nothing beats going out to a new location where everything is fresh to your eyes and where everything inspires you again... It could be the same stinking tree that is in your backyard but man oh man does it look so much better. Catch my drift?

At the very least, start your travels around your local state and national parks...

By the way Michael, your gallery is only maybe two hours from my home and I will have to take a trip down there one of these days in the Summer to admire your work...