The moment we laid anchor in the bay, clouds had socked in all of the mountains. It was doubtful that after lunch, we would be able to hike the famous last leg of Shackleton’s hike to Stromness. So there we were onshore, milling around, trying to work with the flat, gray overcast skies. And then, like that moment in Blues Brothers (“Do you see the light?!?!?!”), where the sun shines down on Jake Elwood, the same happened here. Clouds parted, the sun came out in a rage of glory and the stunning kings lined up for this shot. In a flash I lowered my tripod as far as it could go, less than a foot off the ground, me kneeling in the icy cold water to frame the shot and not startle them off, as the water immediately ran down inside my boots. But I could have cared less that my feet were soaked, for I came away with this. The things us photogs do for a shot. Fortuna Bay, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Google Maps Location photo was taken from: https://goo.gl/inm777
These King Cormorants were absolutely hilarious! Just like the penguins who steal rocks from each other, these guys steal each others twigs and brush from nests. Some even got in tug of war fights with each other. I wanted to grab a head on shot of one, with their unique and colorful color. And add in that it was sprinkling a touch, so I wanted to also capture the rain in the shot. Not wanting to lower my shutter speed too much to keep the cormorant in focus, I lowered it just enough to capture the rain and achieve perfect focus. Bleaker Island, FIQQ 1ZZ, Falkland Islands/Isla Malvinas Google Maps Location photo was taken from: http://goo.gl/cSLq6i
I just love these little king penguin chicks. They are so the polar opposite in behavior compared to most of the adult kings, for it is just like what you would expect from a 2 year old human kid. Not only are they the loudest ones on this plain, squawking left and right as if “Look at me mom and dad!! Look what I can do!! I can flap my wings!!” to running around like crazed lunatics, amped up on sugar, again, like a 2 year old kid. Most of the adults, when a chick was doing something annoying or running into them, had this exasperated look on their faces like “Hey George, is this your kid? Can you tell him to knock it off?" Salisbury Plain, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands Google Maps Location photo was taken from: https://goo.gl/mzwM67
