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Polar Photography
The Freeze Frame collection spans over 130 years in photography, from its very inception. It is a record not just of polar exploration over this time but also of how photography changed during this period. Polar explorers instantly embraced photography; it was a way for them to bring the polar regions home in a way which would have an immediate and very striking impact on their audiences. These hostile environments may have been inhospitable and thousands of miles away from home, but the ordinary person could see them without even having to step outside, due to the developments in photography.
Photography allowed the general public to be involved in polar exploration. Many explorers in the heroic age of exploration relied on lecture tours to raise funds for their next expedition. Illustrated lectures were likely to increase the public interest and therefore allow for further exploration. Shackleton in particular spent many months touring after each of his expeditions so that he could raise money to fund the next.
The first images we have in the collection are of the British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition 1845-48, led by Franklin. This expedition was to go missing without a trace and its fate is still yet to be established. Before the expedition left, Franklin and his senior officers had their portraits taken by Richard Beard; these were the first photographic portraits of polar explorers. Done using the daguerreotype technique, the men had to sit very still whilst the image was captured. Franklin, who had a very bad cold on the day of the sitting, was said to dislike his photograph. The expedition also took camera equipment to the Arctic, but very few Franklin relics have been found and we do not know the fate of the camera or if they took any images.
Our earliest images actually taken in the polar regions are from the British Arctic Expedition 1875-76. 121 exposures were taken and Captain Sir George Strong Nares was of the opinion that 107 of the negatives were ‘good enough to print from and would form an excellent Photographic History of the Arctic Expedition’ (Nares 1875-1877:15). Nares went onto include six of the images in his book about the expedition. After this expedition taking photographic equipment and regularly a professional photographer became commonplace.
The images in the collection are predominately black and white; some are the product of professional photographers whereas others were taken by expedition members to record their experiences.
Difficulties (top)
Taking photographs in the polar regions is plagued with problems due to the cold polar climate. Photo processing requires water to wash plates. In the polar regions as fresh water is frozen it has to be melted before it can be used. Taking photographs (especially during the heroic age) was a long and complicated process; factor into this the low temperatures and life as a photographer on a polar expedition becomes a difficult one. In addition, as a lot of camera equipment was complicated, it could be difficult to set it up wearing the thick mittens that such a climate requires. Many photographers developed frostbite on their fingers through exposure and contact with cold metals. As the photographer Ponting recorded:
“Often, when my fingers touched metal they became frost-bitten. Such a frostbite feels exactly like a burn. Once, thoughtlessly, I held a camera screw for a moment in my lips, and took the skin off when I removed it. On another occasion, my tongue came into contact with the metal part of one of my cameras, whilst moistening my lips as I was focusing. It froze fast instantaneously; and to release myself I had to jerk it away, leaving the skin of the end of my tongue sticking to my camera, and my mouth bled so profusely that I had to gag it with a handkerchief” (1921: 171).
Photographers at times have also been forced to wait impatiently for the weather to change to allow for the possibility of photographs. The polar regions can be dark for long stretches, experience fogs and mists as well as blizzards and glaring sunshine, all of which make taking photographs difficult. As Ponting said:
“I found the Antarctic a very disappointing region for photography. It was exasperating to find the weather so often thwart one when half-way to some goal - for a journey to a point even a few miles distant could not be undertaken lightly” (1921:192)
However, he was to take some very striking images.
Photographers in the polar regions had quickly to become familiar with their dangerous environment. When trying to get the perfect shot, many photographers encountered fierce wildlife or ice that was not thick enough to support their weight. They had to learn to balance their desire to capture the perfect image with safety concerns. Herbert Ponting was known for rigging up devices so that he could get the shots he desired. One photograph shows Ponting suspended over the side ofTerra Nova, balancing on three planks of wood whilst he records film with his cinematograph camera:
“Spread-eagling myself on the end of these planks, I had a field view clear under the overhanging prow. As the ship bumped into floes, I hung on as best I could, and with one arm clung tightly to my precious camera lest it should break loose and fall into the sea, whilst with the other hand I turned the handle. But frequently I had to stop and grip the planks hard to avoid taking a unpremeditated header.” (Ponting 1921:40)
Ponting was to have a number of near misses, as his camera fell through the ice, he was attacked by a killer whale and one of his colleagues was injured posing for a photograph.
Photographers also had to take greater care in how their photographic equipment was stored. Oil would carefully be removed from cameras, as the temperatures would get so low that any oil in the camera could freeze, breaking the camera in the process. There were also concerns about condensation forming in cameras, and so it was commonplace for photographers to leave their cameras outside the hut to prevent the formation of condensation in the warm hut. In addition, photographers had to be cautious not to blow on a lens to wipe away any smudges, in cold temperatures such a thin layer of water would instantly freeze and it would not be possible to use the camera until the front of the lens had been thawed out. They also had to be very careful with how their negatives were stored. Early photographers preferred glass plates to film as the first films became very brittle in such cold temperatures and were prone to snapping. However, they still had to be careful with glass plates. As it was necessary to take them into the expedition’s hut to develop the image there was a risk that the plate would fracture going from the cold outside air to the warmer air of the hut. Often the process of taking plates inside a hut would be undertaken over a number of days as slowly bringing the plate inside through a number of small temperature increases reduced the chances of the plate breaking.
Like polar explorers, the polar photographer has to be up for a challenge and not give in at the first sign of difficulty. Whilst the climate of polar regions is not the most comfortable in which to take photographs, many photographers have experienced numerous difficulties and overcome them to bring us some of the most striking photographs.
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