Where Have I Been?
I don’t even know where to begin trying to come up with a good answer for that.
Here. But lazy. Or adrift. And clearly not paying attention.
I haven’t been doing much shooting since the beginning of COVID really. And I don’t know why. It’s a question I keep asking myself. Creating images is the thing that brings me great joy in life and I haven’t been doing it and I don’t have a good reason for that. But that’s where I find myself digging out from.
And I suppose that sort of answers the question as to why I haven’t been here. I’ve created very little new work and haven’t had much to show you or share.
The brain of a photographer is a funny thing. Even though I haven’t been shooting much with any of my cameras, my mind is always looking for the shot, framing subjects, thinking about how to capture scenes in front of me in my own personal way. It never turns off- I’m always always always looking for the photo. The only difference between now and back when I was shooting a lot is literally just the single press of a button. So it’s especially ridiculous that I haven’t been shooting.
After years of thinking about it and testing it multiple times, I recently bought the Ricoh GR IIIx camera. It’s a street shooter, though it’s never been my intention to use it that way. There is something about the images I can create with this camera that brings me back to my love of photography.
I’ve said this before but my goal is never to represent something the way it actually looks. That isn’t something I care about. It’s why I’ll never be a portrait photographer or a landscape photographer. I only want to capture a mood, a feeling and the way I want things to look, even when they don’t actually look that way. This little camera is helping me do just that and it feels magical.
So I think I’m back.
Return to the South Pole aka Home Away from Home
Baslers at South Pole Station. We flew in on a Basler this year.
We arrived back at South Pole Station about 10 days ago. It was the fastest, smoothest trip ever from Denver to South Pole but it wasn’t much time to wrap my brain around just how far I traveled in such a short time. It’s always a little surreal arriving back here but it’s also a place that feels more like home than anywhere else for me now.
The flag flying over South Pole Station. All points north.
My first photowalk of the season always makes me appreciate being here again so much. It can be easy to forget where we are when we get busy with work during the season but walking around before the masses arrive, seeing this place as if it’s the first time, is a certain kind of magic.
The front of South Pole Station.
These are just a few shots from my photo walkabout yesterday. It was about -40F without windchill and an incredibly lovely gray day. Those are my favorite days here because I’m not a fan of sunny, bright blue skies. I just don’t love them like other people do, so for me it was a perfect day. I only saw one person outside while I was out wandering. Having the whole outdoors to my self is one of the coolest things about being here. It’s flat & white for as far as you can see and not seeing any other people, you can almost imagine what it was like to be one of the early explorers crossing the lonely continent. Of course now e have a behemoth of a station which is probably quite disappointing to the intrepid modern day explorers that ski across the continent and come visit us.
The main entrance of South Pole Station.
It’s hard to believe, but I’ve been coming here for 17 years now. Originally I was only coming for a 4 month contract after leaving the tropical island I was living on in the Pacific. I never imagined then that I would be coming here for so long but as most people who work in Antarctica will tell you, it has a magical pull that is hard to get away from…
A back entrance to the station. Yep, nearly buried by snow drifts…
I’ve been thinking about shooting the station in black & white for so many years now because there really isn’t that much color here to begin with. I knew it would be perfect for the stark contrast you see everywhere here and I don’t think I was wrong. Shooting in black & white yesterday was such pure joy. I think I might just spend the next 4 months shooting colorless images.
Firefighting equipment on the edge of the skiway.
Some facts about South Pole Station. The max capacity of the station is 150 people in the summer. In the winter we have about 42 people that stay behind for the long winter night. South Pole technically only has one sunrise and one sunset per year, so it’s daylight 24/7 while I’m here for the summer. Our lowest temperature ever was -117F and our highest was 9.9F on Christmas day a few years ago. Most years, we are lucky is we see 0F.
Ceremonial pole marker at South Pole Station.
There are so many things I love about living here. This community is made up of the sweetest, most creative and thoughtful people I’ve every worked with. It is filled with fascinating & eclectic people that continually teach and remind me that we really can do anything we put our minds to.
I am surrounded by incredible humans here, which is the reason I’ve been coming back for so many years. There are times I think I’d like to have a ‘normal’ life but it doesn’t generally last very long because there isn’t much that compares with Antarctica and the people that are drawn to it.
South Pole Station.
This is just a small look into life here. If you want to see more, you can sign up for my newsletter to follow my adventures…and more photos to come.
And if you’re interested in working in Antarctica, you can send me an email at andrea @ andreadixon.com and I’ll hook you up with the job links.
Underneath South Pole Station.
Denver Abstraction
One of the reasons I insist on living downtown is so that I can be close to all of the fantastic city buildings that makeup the city of Denver. Most photographers are particularly drawn to one or a couple of subjects in particular. At the top of the list for me is architecture with good lines. Denver has no shortage of buildings with great lines and I spend a lot of time circling them and considering the best way to capture them.
These were taken on a short walk I took on a Friday night at the museums that are 3 blocks from my apartment. The Denver Art Museum is probably my favorite in terms of the building itself. Sharp angles loom high over the sidewalks and walkways. A bit of a jenga building from the outside and theinterior is no less interesting.
My favorite museum if the Clyfford Still museum though. His artwork is breathtaking and I love that he insisted that his work only be shown together and with no one else’s work. He was absolutely right in knowing that’s the best way to see and understand his work. This museum does a stellar job exhibiting his art. I absolutely love shooting this building with the Denver Art Museum in the background.
