AntarcticaThe Last Great Wilderness

In November 2022, I embarked on an expedition to Antarctica, departing from Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in South America, after flying in from New York via Buenos Aires. The trip was roughly 12 days total, four of which were spent crossing the Drake Passage in each direction; some of the most notoriously rough waters on the planet.

The morning we reached the Antarctic Peninsula, everything went still. My eyes were completely unprepared for what was in front of me. The water was so calm it looked like a mirror, reflecting one of the most otherworldly landscapes I've ever witnessed.

Before setting foot on land, we had to sterilize our boots. The untouched terrain is strictly protected. To get ashore, we boarded zodiac boats, and the moment we landed, penguins came to greet us. The weather was unusually mild that day, which made everything feel even more surreal. As I walked around, I kept reminding myself how fortunate I was to be standing there. Less than 1% of people will ever set foot on that continent in their lifetime.

Photographing it was its own challenge. The cold was relentless, and wind gusts came out of nowhere, making every shot a negotiation between speed and steadiness. The landscape itself refused to sit still. Weather would shift in minutes, completely transforming a scene I had just composed. Icebergs that looked like they had been sculpted by nature drifted past in shapes I couldn't have imagined. And then there was the wildlife: whales breaking the surface, penguins moving along the shore, bringing an unexpected pulse of life to one of the most remote places on Earth.