January 5, 2006
Stephen Johnson–The View From Here
Stephen Johnson, one of the instructors for Michael Reichmann’s 2005 Antarctic Expedition has posted some of the images and written some thoughts on the trip for his January 2006 Newsletter.
“It was hard to write on the trip, the experience of the place was at once so foreign and yet so familiar; the open sea, the remoteness, a sense of the earth-bottom righted into simply earth, of isolation and community, a floating home with ever-changing surroundings…
There were fulfilled expectations and unbelievable wonder. This place was real, it was here, I was taking it in with my own eyes, but it was so concentrated, so lovely, so wild. My camera often seemed incidental, an artifice to throw at the experience, rather than an artistic response. There were other moments where the only way I felt I could believe what I was seeing was to hold it, and try to re-experience it later through the photograph. The emotional ups and downs of the constant movement, at times unrelieved opportunity, and amazement was overwhelming. Many conversations and critiques were cut short by the announcement of yet anther impressive iceberg or wildlife sighting ahead.”