It started with this photo:
On New Year’s day 2016, leaving Campbell Island, I made this image of a Campbell albatross with cloud-wreathed Campbell Island in the background. It ended up being one of my favourite photos from the trip, because Campbell Island is the only place in the world that these birds breed. Add to that the memory of sharing the back deck with some of my favourite people, all photographing the hundreds of seabirds swirling around us. It was a special moment, and the end of a very special trip for me.
Returning to the subantarctic this season, I had a photo in mind. I’m not usually one for planning images ahead, but I wanted something that would pair well with that first image – a photo of a Chatham albatross with the Pyramid in the background – again, the only place in the world that these birds currently breed.
This image was a struggle to get. The ship was rolling heavily, the wind was blasting, and I was coated in salty sea spray. There were seabirds everywhere – as well as Chatham albatross there were Buller’s albatross, Northern Giant petrels, Cape petrels, and even a handful of Kelp gulls and Red-billed gulls. Trying to get an image with just one bird in it proved nearly impossible. Out of all of them, this was my favourite – with two Chatham albatross and two Northern Giant petrels, and spray pluming up from the right side of the Pyramid. Is it an image I’m 100% happy with? Not quite – but that just gives me an excuse to get back there and give it another crack!
Thinking more about it, I could broaden this series to albatross that aren’t restricted to one island, but have them pictured against the island where their main breeding population resides. Another image that I was aiming for was along the same lines – a Salvin’s albatross with the Bounty Islands in the background. While Salvin’s aren’t restricted to the Bounties, the majority of the breeding population is centred there. I ended up with a lot of options from the morning we spent at the Bounties, but the photo below is my favourite, because it shows the sheer numbers of seabirds that call these remote, rugged rocks home.
This project is far from over though, and it will no doubt evolve. It’s something that will brew in the back of my mind and will hopefully develop further if I get the chance to return to these latitudes – Antipodean albatross anyone?
