Christmas Greeting from the Falklands

Hope this season at the camera club has been good fun and results have been going your way.

As for myself work seems to be getting in the way. We are into the summer flying program, which has meant shift work and it always seems to be sunny whilst I am at work and dreadful when I have time to go out with my camera. Plus it has been the worst November weather in thirty years and the start of December has got off to good start. This week end (12th.Dec) I had to clear snow from the car before driving it to work. At the moment we are experiencing southerly Antarctic winds which bring heavy snow squalls and hail. At this rate it looks like we might be having snow for Christmas. Rubbing salt in to an open wound, my wife Jacki, is helping the conservation group with this year’s penguin survey and going all over the Falklands to remote areas and taking, MY CAMERA, returning with some good results.

Though the weather has not been the best we are still managing to get out, and now appreciate the patience good photographers have to endure the cold and keeping their camera kit clean to take quality images. I get so frustrated, as I usually have every article of clothing I own on trying to stay warm and the modern outdoor clothing is covered in Velcro, which all way’s seems to attach itself to opposing parts of your clothing, so moving around is always cumbersome. It is nearly always windy here and often very strong, up to force 10, and so have the added problem of trying to keep myself and my camera still. Most of the wild life live and breed on or near the coastline, so the ever present wind is always full of salty mist and sand, so I always have to keep a check that my lens is clean and that my camera doesn’t get too much sand in it. Luckily down on the beaches most of the sand stays at ground level, so have managed to get some good shots of Gentoo penguins battling their way up the beach in a haze of windblown sand, which is so white it resembles snow. 18th Dec. The weather has changed in the last week with the odd really warm day, and we have had virtually no wind for 8 days, but hasn’t been very good for photography because as the day warms up so the clouds build making a grey flat light, and now for the last 4 days just blanket cloud. And as at home the weather always seems worse at the weekends. At least now with the warmer weather it isn’t so painful to take my hands from their nice warm gloves, to take my photographs. I was fearing that my photography would be in jeopardy in the future as my fingers would suffer serious arthritis

We were very lucky to get invited on a trip to nearby Kidney island at the weekend, where the last people to visit here, that weren’t on a Conservation project, was 9 years ago. This 5 hectare island has 100,000 Shearwaters, White-chinned Petrels and a few Diving Petrels, Rockhoppers, all nesting here, plus a Sea-lion colony. Sadly it wasn’t a good weather for photography. The Shearwaters and Petrels are away all day feeding and only return at dusk which is meant to be an amazing sight. As we were the last trip of the day, we were lucky enough to see lots returning to raft –up before they all fly in together. I am hoping the weather changes, and the wind comes back to blow this blanket cloud away, so I can get my camera back into full swing, as Jacki and I have 2 trips planned in the new year.

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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