My first GoPro project from Antarctica

I'm not a computer genius nor am I anything close to intermediate level when it comes to anything related to photo and video editing.  It was a challenge just learning how to use the GoPro effectively and even more challenging to download, upload, edit and post clips.  I've been messing around with GoPro Studio for a few weeks and finally decided to try putting a project together.  Creating a project involves going through all of the footage, loading the footage with interesting clips to the studio and then splicing them together.  My first project is simple but captures my favorite moments from our morning excursion at Neko Harbor.  You'll get to see our actual continent landing, our encounters with penguins, and our departure from the continent as we tow the kayaks to a very quiet launch point.  At the end you'll see a clip taken from the nose of the kayak as I paddle through an inlet.

I have not added music yet and have muted the sound but I'll post an update when I find a song that fits!

My favorite wildlife photos from Antarctica

 I want to share some more of my favorite photos of the wildlife in Antarctica.  I think most of these photos are by my friend Clif, see my previous post on his incredible Instagram photos!  I plan to go into more detail about each species like I did in my post about Pinnipeds but for now I just wanted to get my favorite images up before too much time goes by.

An amzing action shot of a whale about to dive.  Photo by Clif Hagstrom

Gorgeous shot of a Petrel gliding through the air with a blue ice wall in the backgroun.  Photo by Clif Hagstrom.

Incredible photo of a whale fluke as it dives into Wilhelmina Bay.  Photo by Clif Hagstrom

Another incredible shot of the Petrel in front of a giant wall of blue ice.  Photo by Clif Hagstrom

I love this shot of two Gentoo Penguins and what I believe is a Snowy Sheathbill.  I'm not sure who took this photo.

Chinstrap Penguins marching across a rock.  Photo by Clif Hagstrom

A Snowy Sheathbill taking a stroll.  Not sure who took this one either!

Another great whale shot.  Also not sure who took this, but most likely Clif!

Penguins porpoising through the water.

I love this photo of penguins doing a little bow; and I'm proud to say I took this one!

A fluffy little penguin!

Another favorite that I'm sure Clif took.  

This Fur Seal looks so cute and reminded me of my dogs a little bit.

More kayaking photos from Antarctica

Friends with (photography) benefits: Clif

I'd like to share some of the amazing photos taken by some of my new friends who happen to be extremely skilled photographers.  My new friends Clif, Stacey & Joe have captured some of the best moments of the trip in a way that many of us could not.

If you're on Instagram, I promise you will not regret following Clif's feed @levartz.

Cliff was there for one of the funniest moments of the trip: when a Skua picked up my GoPro and tried to run off with it.  Fortunately the Skua dropped it and I recovered the GoPro that was rolling at throughout the incident.  Check out the clip here.

Clif is amazing at capturing moments; he's somehow mastered the art of capturing whatever actually made the moment one worthy of taking a photo if that makes any sense.  I mean- look at the face on this seal! 

I love this picture. The Elephant Seal calf and the penguins around him on the beach- too cute.  Side note: Elephant Seals do not eat penguins, hence their harmonious existence at Deception Island.

This is the version Clif chose for Instagram; I'd love to share the original later- it is such an amazing photo that it almost looks fake.  

This photo is just so perfect there are no words. It captures exactly how it felt when we looked at this scene in real life.

Who doesn't like some good tail?  I gave up trying to capture whale tales and just enjoyed watching them; thankfully Cliff and others had faster fingers and better camera skills!

Another one that does not need any words.

The Penguins of Hannah Point

Gentoo penguins in a bowing ritual.

This was one of my favorite penguins- look how shiny and clean he is!  This photo was taken with my GoPro as a much larger still- the quality of photos from GoPro was really surprising as I was able to crop and zoom in quite a bit without loosing any definition.

A closeup up the marching gentoo penguins.

I was crouching behind some rocks on the beach to take some better photos of the marching penguins.

Two penguins guarding their nest that was meticulously built with rocks and some twigs.

I took some GoPro footage of the penguins at Hannah Point.  Here a a couple of my favorites.

In the clip above, penguins are building their nests out of rocks.  Penguins are unfortunately not that bright.  They often steal rocks from other penguin nests- but while they're out collecting (or stealing rocks) they are also becoming victims of theft.  If you stand and watch long enough, you can see one rock stolen and passed around in a circle- essentially whichever penguin is closes to the external rocks is doing all the work while the rest just steal and pass around the same rocks unknowingly.

This is a clip of some penguins marching along the black sand beach.  We were hiking on the lower part of a mountain while this was filmed.  

A Gentoo (right) and several Chinstrap penguins (left).

A thirsty Chinstrap penguin eating some snow for hydration.

If I had to pick my favorite excursion….

On March 21st, we had our continent landing at Neko Harbor.  This was by far my most memorable excursions and I'd love to post all the amazing photos I took in my fabulous yellow kayaking suit as I stepped foot on the continent of Antarctica. Sadly those photos are sitting at the bottom of Wilhelmina Bay with my Olympus that went overboard during our afternoon excursion that same day.  Fortunately I have GoPro footage and the photos take by some of my new and amazing friends from the trip.  Separately, one of these new friends loaned me her backup small camera to use for the remainder of the trip so my selfies with bergy bits could continue!  (More on the role of selfies on our trip later!) 

GoPro clip of the continent landing:

 For those of us that chose to kayak this morning, we only had about twenty minutes on the continent before we left to launch.  Those who stayed behind were treated to an amazing hike.  I'm so thankful that I chose to kayak this morning as I had a really incredible experience kayaking into some really remote and almost never visited inlets.

Gentoo Penguins marching across the beach at Neko Harbor on the most perfect morning. 

A closer look at the Gentoos marching along.  The one on the left looks like he needed a bath- they are often filthy from sliding around in their own feces! 

I love this photo captured by Vicky.  She chose to do the hike instead of kayaking at Neko Harbor that day and captured some great images like this one.  I love how on a clear day like this the black and white penguins stand out against the blue water.  I also love that our ship is in the background.  

Another shot of the marching Gentoos.

A few more photos from our shared collection:

Close up of one of the friendly Gentoos.

I love this picture because it comes closer to capturing the amazing colors in the sky that day.  Also that strange looking guy in the red is Joe, another new friend who happens to be an actual pro photographer and scotch drinker.  More on all of the amazing people I met in a later post though...

Another Gentoo.  They're so adorable in spite of their stench.

GoPro clips of the friendly Gentoos in Neko Harbor:

  

A lonely Gentoo heading in the opposite direction.

We left the continent and launched our kayaks far away from the landing site.  We paddled through some of the most beautiful and untouched inlets.  I was completely awestruck by the size of the glacier walls and mountains surrounding me that day and I discovered how mesmerizing ice can be.  The really old ice is easily recognizable by it's clear and dimpled appearance.  I remember taking tons of selfies with ancient bergy bits- it really would be awesome if someone found my camera in 20 years or so and discovered all my photos of which half were selfies with various icebergs.

Calm and reflective water and enormous walls of ice surrounded us.

We felt so tiny next to these walls of ice.  The deep blue crevasses were incredible.  

Heading straight through some dense brash ice.