CENTERFOLD
Wave breaking over bow of ice-strengthened ship Marina Svetaeva,
Ross Sea, 7 February 2009. — Photo © Colin Monteath / Hedgehog House
This dramatic photo—notice the sea surging through the Hawsepipe on the port bow—was taken by New Zealand photographer Colin Monteath using
a Canon EOS 5D Mark II; exposure time: 1/1000 second.
Beginning in 1973, Colin has worked in Antarctica for 29 summer seasons so far. From 1973 to 1983, he was Field Operations Officer at Scott Base, helping to coordinate logistic support for New Zealand’s science program. Colin was also in charge of the Scott Base huskies and the training of the Kiwi dog handlers.
He helped coordinate the recovery operation
following the 1979 Air New Zealand crash at Mt. Erebus. Colin acted as a guide for HRH Prince Edward during his Antarctic tour in 1982. In 1978, during his third international
science expedition to Mt. Erebus, Colin made the first descent into the volcano’s inner crater. Colin has been involved in a number of new routes and first ascents on peaks in the Transantarctic Mountains and, in 1993, became
the first New Zealander to reach Antarctica’s
highest mountain, Vinson Massif.
In 1991, on his first of four seasons in the Arctic, Colin was aboard the Soviet nuclear-powered icebreaker Sovetskiy Soyuz which made the first surface vessel traverse of the Arctic Ocean via the North Pole. This voyage
was followed by a transit of the Northeast Passage. In 1993, Colin joined an international
team that skied and dog sledged across the Greenland icecap. In early 2008, Colin was a member of a four-person international team that crossed Svalbard by ski. Colin’s 21 Himalayan expeditions have also played a central role in his life, and could themselves be the subject of a long story.
Colin’s images and feature stories have appeared in many magazines, among them GEO, National Geographic, Australian Geographic,
Terre Sauvage and Mother Nature.
His work also regularly appears in books. He was the principal photographer for the acclaimed Reader’s Digest book Antarctica - Great Stories from the Frozen Continent (1985); co-author of Smithsonian Institution Press’s Wild Ice - Antarctic Journeys (1990) and author and photographer of Antarctica - Beyond the Southern Ocean (1996). His latest polar book is Vanishing Wilderness of Antarctica,
due out early in 2010.
With his wife, Betty. Colin runs the Hedgehog
House New Zealand photo library. Founded in 1983, Hedgehog House’s specialties
include New Zealand’s diverse environments,
the polar regions, and mountains of the world. See www.hedgehoghouse.com for more amazing and beautiful photography.
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