I appreciate the folks who have Email'ed me about my
Antarctica, South Georgia, and Falklands pictures/saga.
Here's a sampling of the delightful comments - some are from fellow passengers that were on the trip.
You can Email me your comments and I'd love to hear which picture was your favorite.
- AndrewW: Thanks very much for posting your pictures and writeup online where we can all see them. My wife and I sat here gawking and giggling for more than an hour, and i expect we'll be back another night to look at other things. You have a great sense of humor and a great storytelling instinct.
- AnnR: Your fabulous Antarctica images came to us (in Wyoming) through my sister in law (in Illinous) via a friend (in California) from her daughter-in-law (in Colorado) who thought they were "Quite compelling." Wow, and wow, and wow, is all I can say about your images/shooting/quality/results/with a healthy dose of luck on the Skua attack shots.
- BusterL: Alek, I just want to thank you so much for your email, we thoroughly enjoyed all the pics from your cruise. Was so nice of you to send to Buster & me, the pics were so beautiful, it felt like we were there w/you & the crew!!!!!
- DaveR: You lucky dog. I am completely jealous, but what an opportunity of a lifetime.
Alek: Yep - "Lucky Dog" pretty much sums it up .... or Lucky Penguin! ;-)
- DaveT: You are one hell of a good photographer. These photos look amazing. The holiday looked fantastic. Did you bring any penguins back for your xmas light display?
- DawnA: Sensational photos, Alek! National Geographic could not have done a better job. Thank you for sharing.
- DinaL: amazing photos!!!!!!!!!!! Skua attack was pretty gross but i guess at the same time cool to watch ! thanks for sharing!
Alek: I agree it is gruesome, but it depicts the reality of nature, which can be cruel in the battle for survival.
- DirkA: Jealousy doesn't come close to describing the envy I feel right now. What an opportunity. It seems we have a shared interest in photography and I have to say you got some truly spectacular shots.
- DonelB: All I can say is "WOW"!! Great photos. Trip of a lifetime for sure. Thanks for sharing...
- HowardB: Fabulous stuff, Alek. Great photos. I was in all these places on a similar trip 8 months ago. Your site brings it all flooding back!
- JasonL: And to think, I thought that Salisbury steaks came from cows in England, not funny little birds down by Savannah..... ;)
- JoanV: I just reviewed the pictures. Breathtaking!!! Absolutely wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing this adventure with me. It must have been almost like a dream. I don't envy the guys doing the arctic plunge into the sub-zero water. I guess they just hadda do it, didn't they? Thank you again. Very cool? Exactly !!!!!!!!
- JohanT: That looks awesome Alek, great to see not all web geeks are afraid to venture out! I'm sure you felt like the coolest dad around. Nice pics too, thanks for sharing!
- JohnO: Thanks a lot. These are great. I probably did not even need to take my camera!
- JonathanR: Your photography is incredible and very professional with the slide show of the Antarctic especially outstanding. I shared that with a large number fellow passengers on our 70 day 2010 cruise around South America and it was a smashing hit, even after we had returned from the Antarctic.
- JonathanT: I came across your wonderful images today - that must have been the trip of a lifetime! The pictures are great - thanks so much for sharing them with the world.
- KarmaC: Every once in a while, a link is posted to the Internet that is truly worth spending time on - this is one of them. Fantastic photos - I would LOVE to take a photo trip like this! "Target rich" environment indeed. ;-)
- KeithS: I've spent about half an hour browsing through these, and I'm seriously impressed. There are some gorgeous pictures here of a part of the world few of us will ever see. Highly recommended.
- KurtM: Awesome pictures. Looks like a great trip. I'd love to get down in that part of the world some day. It's great to see wildlife that hasn't seen enough humans to be afraid.
- KyleS: These pics are awesome and I appreciate very much the effort you have put into this fantastic site. Such a great way to remember the trip.
- LornaS: What a joy to see these photos....i feel as though I was on the expedition with you all. Thx Alek
- MargaretW: These are wonderful - just amazing. Thanks for reminding me of the trip.
- MichaelY: Thanks for sharing. My daughter and I will take this trip just because of your pictures.
- NatC: Usually I hate seeing people's vacation photographs. This is a pleasant exception.
- NickH: Amazing photos. If we're "friends of Komar" can we get a discount?
Alek: I'd score soooo many points if someone booked a trip with my wife Wendy at Nathab because of my photos!
- NikkiB: What an amazing experience! Your photos are just incredible. I forwarded your Antartica photos to my family and there were just in awe! You could always ditch your day job and be a photographer for National Geographic!!
Alek: That would be nice - anyone want to put a word in with NatGeo on my behalf! ;-)
- PattiE: Thanks for sharing Gilligan, I mean Alek!!!!!! What a great time you (and the penguins) had!!!
- PattiJ: Thanks for including me in your "mail-all". What a wonderful trip! You took some awesome pictures (you could make some money off them).
Alek: I haven't made any $$$ from the photos, but that too would also score me major points with my wife if I did! ;-)
- PaulB: WOW! You are a lucky man. Truly a trip of a lifetime. I'm exceptionally jealous.
- RichT: Meg and I wanted to thank you for the amazing story and pictures! This indeed looks like the trip of a lifetime. Congratulations on such stunning work!
- RobertO: What gorgeous pictures. I think I just added another item to my bucket list.
- Rosmary: Awesome...breathtaking...and your sense of humor is always in sight. What a trip...
- RussellG: Wow, what outstanding pictures! Thanks for sending the link. Was the air truly that clear or were you using filters? In any case, truly spectacular photos.
Alek: I used a polarizing filter for a couple of shots, but yes, the air was truly that clear - the stars at night were incredible too.
- SteveM: Awesome Alek! Thanks for bringing back the incredible memories
- SueT: These pictures are amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed taking a mental trip through Anrarctica rather than working this morning ;-)
- TedM: Holy cow! Thank you for sharing!!!.... just came back from your incredible world/ photos to my desk. Those were outstanding photos, excellent narrative as well.
- TomH: Great coverage of Ocean Nova's next voyage. Can not help but think we were so fortunate that we had such calm seas for most of our expedition and never were in danger with our Russian captain in charge. Was a joy to talk with you and enjoy your many creative pics.
- UrsulaS: I have to say that those are some of the most beautiful pictures I have ever seen. That colorful iceberg really caught my eye.
Here's the Email I sent to people in my address book
(and here's the music that goes with it! ;-)
"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip.
That started from Ushuaia, Argentina aboard the Ocean Nova, a tiny ship.
Alek was a mighty camera man as he took 10,000 pictures for sure.
66 passengers set sail seven months ago for a 19-day tour. A 19-day tour."
My wife works at an Adventure Travel company, and due to a
very fortunate set of circumstances (plus her encouragement
and willingness to watch the kids), I was able to go on a 19-day
expedition voyage to the Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica.
The amazing wildlife and spectacular scenery provides a
"target rich environment" that is a photographer's ultimate fantasy.
Many people have seen the web page already, but I figured others
who I have corresponded with might enjoy reading about this
fantastic place and seeing some photos from the trip:
http://www.komar.org/faq/travel/vacation/antarctica/
In addition to that summary page, there are sub-pages for each day
with pictures of (literally) millions of penguins and other wildlife,
more icebergs than you can imagine, a Google Map of our voyage, and more.
Speaking of Gilligan and the Minnow, our ship (the Ocean Nova), didn't
get lost ... but you may recall hearing about it since it made the news
when it ran aground on the very next trip out - fortunately, no one was hurt.
I was incredibly lucky to be able to do this phenomenal experience
and am back to being a boring middle-aged suburban Dad, making
school lunches for the kids, playing baseball with 'em, etc. ;-)
Hopefully, "you're sure to get a smile" from the Antarctica saga.
alek
A variety of blogs and other online sources have commented on the trip - I especially liked this one from the Tourismtastico Blog:
Travel Blogs can be dead boring and completely rubbish, even when they are slick and sexy looking.
This one, on the other hand, is actually really cool and interesting. In fact - I would say its approaching perfect and beautiful in its simplicity. It records a chap's trip to South America and on to Antarctica.
I love the way it looks - it is entirely functional. The pictures are all really cool and interesting and really big. There are descriptions of the photos and you get the idea of what the guy experienced without hearing about every last detail. It was a very cool mission and it is very well communicated, without getting all hyped up and Internetty.
The post finishes with an interesting footnote that the next sailing of the boat he travelled on wrecked in Antarctica. Sheeit.
Anyway - a classic of its genre.