Ice in Black and White

Iceberg and Cliffs, Antarctica

As I mentioned in my last post, I am leaving tomorrow for 3 weeks in Antarctica. One reason I am excited about the trip - and there are many - is the opportunity to shoot landscapes in black and white. My last trip to the Antarctic Peninsula was eight years ago when digital was relatively new. At the time, I made the bone-headed decision to use the trip to "learn about" my first digital camera. My advice?
Never do this...

What it meant in practice was that I didn't really understand about digital exposure or histograms...and here I was, plunked into a world where exposure was both complicated and critical. On the upside, I also discovered digital black-and-white conversions on that trip - and loved their ease and power. When the light was anything less than optimal for color: I was free to shoot in black and white in an environment that was more than willing to meet me halfway!  I was delighted from the results of that trip and now look forward to shooting much more, and on a much better camera -- and with much better skills.

I will try to blog during the trip, so stay tuned.

Nikon D100, 80-200mm lens