{"id":13757,"date":"2012-02-28T15:40:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-28T15:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amateurphotographer.co.uk\/uncategorized\/grotto-in-an-iceberg-by-herbert-ponting-iconic-photograph-13757"},"modified":"2014-10-23T11:29:32","modified_gmt":"2014-10-23T10:29:32","slug":"grotto-in-an-iceberg-by-herbert-ponting-iconic-photograph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/iconic-images\/grotto-in-an-iceberg-by-herbert-ponting-iconic-photograph\/","title":{"rendered":"Grotto in an Iceberg by Herbert Ponting – Iconic Photograph"},"content":{"rendered":"

Image: The Cavern in the iceberg,Terra Nova in the distance \u00a9 Royal Geographical Society
\n
\n <\/strong><\/em>
\nWhen the British Antarctic Expedition set sail from
\nCardiff on board the Terra Nova on 15 June 1910, its members knew they
\nwere embarking on a potentially dangerous voyage. Led by Robert Falcon
\nScott, its objective was, in his words, \u2018to reach the South Pole and to
\nsecure for the British Empire the honour of this achievement’.<\/p>\n

Reaching
\n the South Pole was, at this time, at the limits of what could be
\nachieved in human exploration and the race was on to be the first there.
\n Ernest Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition had failed to reach the South
\nPole in 1909, and in 1910 other countries, including Japan and
\nAustralia, were planning similar attempts. Furthermore, later in the
\njourney, Scott was informed that the Norwegian Roald Amundsen’s
\nexpedition was also on its way to the South Pole.<\/p>\n

Among the crew
\nmembers on board the Terra Nova as it headed to Antarctica was Herbert
\nGeorge Ponting. He had been born into a wealthy English family in 1870
\nand, after a brief career in banking, had emigrated to America in the
\n1890s. He later invested in fruit farming and gold mining before taking
\nup photography in 1900. <\/p>\n

He went on to have a successful career as
\n a freelance photographer for magazines, newspapers and book publishers,
\n and travelled widely, particularly in Europe and Asia. His flair for
\ncreating technically accomplished and aesthetically pleasing travel
\nimages that told the story of a journey led Scott to recruit him as the
\nexpedition’s official photographer.<\/p>\n

Although many photographers
\nwere shooting on film by 1910, Ponting chose to use a glass-plate camera
\n because, although especially cumbersome in extreme conditions, it
\nproduced images of superior quality. His brief was to shoot both still
\nand moving images (for the latter he used an early portable camera
\ncalled a cinematograph) that recorded crew members on the voyage and the
\n natural wonders they encountered.<\/p>\n

Ponting helped set up the
\nwinter camp at Cape Evans on Ross Island. After building a small
\ndarkroom in the hut, Ponting set about his task. He took a lot of pride
\nin his work and made great efforts to compose (and often carefully pose)
\n his pictures. They included scenes of the crew’s everyday lives, images
\n of the region’s seals and penguin colonies, and dramatic photographs of
\n icebergs.<\/p>\n

The most visually stunning location was photographed by
\n Ponting in early January 1911. It was a naturally formed cavern in an
\niceberg that had a swirling, textured interior surface. \u2018It was about a
\nmile from the ship, and although a lot of rough and broken ice
\nsurrounded it, I was able to get right up to it,’ Ponting wrote in The
\nGreat White South. <\/p>\n

\n <\/img>\n <\/p>\n

Image: A Berg with a large grotto \u00a9 Royal Geographical Society <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018A
\n fringe of long icicles hung at the entrance of the grotto, and passing
\nunder these I was in the most wonderful place imaginable. From outside,
\nthe interior appeared quite white and colourless, but, once inside, it
\nwas a lovely symphony of blue and green.I found that the colouring of
\nthe grotto changed with the position of the Sun; thus, sometimes green
\nwould predominate, then blue, and then again it was a delicate lilac.<\/p>\n

\u2018When
\n the Sun passed round to the west – opposite the entrance to the cavern -
\n the beams that streamed in were reflected by myriads of crystals, which
\n decomposed the rays into lovely prismatic hues, so that the walls
\nappeared to be studded with gems.’<\/p>\n

Ponting photographed it from
\nthe inside, looking out towards the Terra Nova in the distance, and in
\none version he asked his colleagues Thomas Griffith Taylor and Charles
\nWright to pose in the grotto to give an indication of its scale. He also
\n photographed the grotto from the ice sheet, looking back towards it
\n(see image above). <\/p>\n

Ponting’s best photograph of the grotto showed
\n it without the figures (see image above). This simple composition
\nallowed him to concentrate purely on the ice formations and the distant
\nship. It was a spectacular scene and one that perfectly captured both
\nthe strangeness of the Antarctic landscape and the isolation of the
\nTerra Nova and her crew.<\/p>\n

When Scott and other key expedition
\nmembers pushed on for their journey to the South Pole in November 1911,
\nit was agreed that Ponting and several others should remain at the camp.
\n They finally left in February 1912. Meanwhile, Scott, together with his
\n colleagues Lawrence Oates, Edward Wilson, Henry Bowers and Edgar Evans,
\n reached the South Pole to find that Amundsen had arrived more than a
\nmonth earlier. Tragically, Scott’s group died from exposure and
\nmalnutrition on the return journey.<\/p>\n

In the years that followed,
\nPonting toured the UK giving lectures on his experiences and dedicated
\nhimself to preserving the memory of Scott’s epic journey. His book, The
\nGreat White South, was published in 1921 and his film, The Great White
\nSilence, was released in 1924. However, the latter years of his life
\nwere spent pursuing various unsuccessful ventures and he died in 1935,
\naged 64.<\/p>\n

\n <\/img>\n <\/p>\n

\nHis photographic archive of Scott’s expedition, which
\nincludes more than 1,000 still images, is a fascinating collection.
\nHowever, Grotto in an Iceberg remains the iconic image of the voyage; it
\n goes beyond being a mere documentary photograph and is a beautiful work
\n of art in itself. In the words of contemporary explorer David
\nHempleman-Adams, Ponting’s photograph is \u2018as significant an image as
\nNeil Armstrong standing on the Moon for the first time.’<\/p>\n

\n
\n Image: Herbert Ponting and telephoto apparatus \u00a9 Royal Geographical Society<\/strong>
\n <\/em>\n <\/p>\n

Events 1910-20<\/h2>\n