Ah yes the Emperor penguins. They may walk funny on land but at sea they can dive up to 1,850 feet (565 meters) deeper than any other bird, and stay under for more than 20 minutes. They are the largest of their species standing about 4 feet (1.2 meters) tall. The males keep their soon-to-be chick's eggs warm by balancing the eggs on their feet while Mom is on a food feast some 50 miles (80 ks) away. She must journey this far to open water.

During austral winter in Antarctica, it will stay dark for six months. We met & fell in love right before the longest sunset in the world whilst watching slowly shifting iridescent nacreous clouds roll in. They are formed by tiny ice crystals and have the color of bathtub bubbles.

The winter in Antarctica is intense, long, and cold. But the forever lasting friendships are warm, the sky is brillant with the brightest stars ever, phenominal borelous light shows, and bizarre-entertaining social behavior like non I've ever witnessed.

There are few places with as much ambiance as the Coffee House at McMurdo Station. When you drum up your ideas of what a coffee and wine bar in Antarctica should look like, this matches to perfection. I enjoyed my time there so much that I also spent numerous hours behind the bar serving up bottles of wine and lattes with an occasional biscotti to scientists, contractors, and several notables who traipsed through the Station as "distinguished visitors." The building was once used as an exclusive Officer's Club, but has since been opened up to the summer population of as many as 1100 people. After a cold day of work or weeks in a field camp, folks can warm up with a coffee or hot cocoa; often with a spot of Amaretto, Baileys, or whiskey thrown into the frothy mix. The fact that dry milk is the staple on station is usually secondary to the use of a 'real' espresso machine, and it also makes special deliveries of fresh New Zealand milk by friends in the Air Force all the more special. The coffee house culture runs deep here where people come to play a game of cribbage, socialize over knitting, chat with the bartender/barista, listen to live local music, watch a movie, or just escape from the weather.

After arriving to McMurdo Station, Antarctica, when temperatures are still cold early in the summer season, an unassuming hiker can unknowingly catch the only moisture in the air from his breath and hold it on the tips of his eyelashes. The only indication of the ice build up to him is a slight 'sticking' of the eyelids if he blinks for too long. But for those around him, it is a frosty sight!

They say after a winterover in Antarctica that the human brain does not operate quite as clearly as before. While I felt pretty sharp after my winter on the Ice, I had to think twice when I walked outside on a Sunday morning to see the bronze, orange, purple, pink, and green streaks across the horizon from horizon to ceiling. Nacreous clouds are gaseous clouds that form high in the upper atmosphere above Antarctica during the 'springtime.' They catch the sun's rays long before they reach the terrestrial island where a few lucky winterovers can witness the surreal brushstrokes in the sky.

This might not look like a happy housewarming, but given a flat white field of snow, these tools and a couple bags of survival equipment provide exactly what you need for reliable and potentially life-saving shelter in Antarctica. "Happy Camper" (aka, snow school or outdoor survival training) was one of the requirements for my contracted work supporting the US Antarctic Program. We learned all sorts of skills including sawing snow blocks for quinzee huts, building trenches to quickly get out of the wind, melting snow for water, setting up tents, understanding the symptoms of hypothermia, and all sorts of survival techniques to stay warm and healthy until help arrives. This course was critical to learning how to STAY protected from the harsh continent. I still cannot understand how Shackleton and his crew survived so long in the frigid outdoors, but I am confident that I could make do for a week or so!

Working at McMurdo Station offers no promise of seeing wildlife. However, one amazing summer weekend, a crowd of Adelies came to visit and observe the human contingency posted at Ross Island, Antarctica. Humans are prevented by order of the International Antarctic Treaty from approaching, touching, or altering behavior of wildlife in Antarctica, but that does not keep the penguins from curiously waddling in the midst of camera-toting, parka-clad people and altering their behavior.

This little slice of life was captured on 35mm red scale film (manufactured by Lomography) to give it an added twist. I originally wanted to enter this photo into the CATCH contest under the 'Unlikely Art' theme but I asked the Digital Team at AFAR if I could do a print giveaway for the online community and they approved. The first commenter to correctly identify what the item is in the photo will receive one free print (of the photo above) from me, Colin. Hi.

A gorgeous endless Ross Island evening watching the sun try to set before a long dark winter in Antarctica. These two men reflect on the disappearing light next to Vince's cross commemorating his untimely Antarctic death; and the passings of many others on the Continent. The ice shelf beyond is reigned in on the opposite shore by the TransAntarctic Mountain Range, including Mount Discovery (the highest peak in this photo).

Antarctica is the land of superlatives and as such, it is only appropriate that the Continent hosts the southernmost International athletic competition on earth. The New Zealand and the United States have an annual rugby match every year that is played on the Ross Ice Shelf, just off the coast of Ross Island near the research stations of Scott Base (NZ) and McMurdo Station (USA). Both teams practice during the austral summer season when it is light outside 24 hours a day. Every year this competition inevitably culminates in a landslide win by the Kiwis. It is the ultimate Sunday afternoon sporting event for everyone in attendance.

Unforgettable. The first steps onto the frozen continent of Antarctica will be embedded in my mind forever. Not just the picture memory, but the feel of the place: The dry cold that entered my airways so fast that my nose hairs froze. Thin air absent of smell beyond a touch of the lingering C-17's jet fuel. The crunch of groomed ice beneath my feet. An awareness that I wasn't really supposed to take photos and hold up the transport from the plane, making my my initial photos cockeyed and irregularly composed; sort of like the Continent itself. The incredible expanse of whiteness and emptiness. Inner giggles that I, of all people, was in such an unusual location that few ever touch. And, wondering how this would become my second home over the course of the next five months.

Mount Erebus is a unique mountain, sharing Ross Island with two research stations including the United States' McMurdo Station and New Zealand's Scott Base. Erebus is an active volcano; one of two of a kind on earth. The other is Mount Kenya in Africa. There is always a plume rising from the top of Erebus from the active lava pool that can be seen from the crater's rim. Seeing mountains from sea level to their peak is always impressive. This photo is taken from the Ross Sea Ice Shelf, looking back on Ross Island.