Falklands 2009 – part 1

campbell-macfarlane — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:35:52 +0000

Falklands 2009
Your man in the freezer – Part 1
Chuck has asked me to jot down some of my experiences while working in the Falklands. For my sins I’m employed for six months, contracted to F.I.G.A.S. (Falkland Island Government Air Service) which operates the Britten and Norman Islanders that service the remote settlements and the smaller Islands that are scattered around the coast.
I arrived on a bitterly cold night in the first week of August after a 22hr. shuttle flight from Brize Norton via The Ascension Islands to the Falklands. The flight was delayed for six hours on the tropical island of Ascension, this was due to the only road into Port Stanley from the Falklands airport being blocked by snow.
My baptism to the extremes of weather on my first week was the temperature never rose above minus two degrees. So I’m so grateful for my accommodation being warm with great views over Stanley harbour and the mountains, I can sit and watch the weather patterns race across the mountains, some heavy with snow, straight from the Antarctic continent.
Stanley is the only large settlement on the Island, and can be no bigger than Godshill. 90% of the population live in town, with six pubs, a small super market and the odd small shop selling most things. Everyone has been so helpful and friendly, which helps so much with settling in. I’m enjoying my work at the moment, but it is getting in the way of getting out with my camera as much as I would like, and now the wife [Jacki] is here (will say no more on that subject in case it gets me in to trouble) she has me lending a hand with the conservation group she has joined. When I do get out I’m using a Canon EOS 500 with an 18 to 200 mm Canon lens, which I find ideal for the backpacking style of travel that my wife and I do. One unit, no lens changes and compact.
Photography in the Falklands can be a dream and at the other end of the scale it can be torture. They say that you can get all four seasons in one day. Which I can vouch for, going out one morning in lovely sunny weather which turned quickly in to breezy, showery, squalls, followed by overcast and drizzle, then trudged home cold in thick snow with my camera tucked away in its waterproof bag.
Once I conquered dodging the weather and constant wind and minus degrees in temperature, helped by a thin pair of gloves to stop my fingers from freezing and a mono pod to battle against the wind I started to get better results. Most weekends Jacki and I go trekking in the mountains or along the coast line.
Some people come here and only see a remote cold harsh land, while others see one of nature’s beauties, sculptured by its remoteness and cold harsh environment. We both fall into the latter group. We are slowly moving in to spring with the temperature hovering around + 3 to +6 degrees which feels almost tropical. The wild life is starting to arrive in numbers for the summer breeding season and luckily they are not too shy, which is great for photography. So in the next few months we will be making the most of the warmer weather and the abundant wild life.
Hope you have found something of interest in my first attempt in this note from the Falklands. Blame Chuck if you nodded off.
Good luck to you all in this year’s comps
Stuart Bennett

Sandown Shanklin & District Camera Club » campbell-macfarlane

Falklands 2009 – part 1