Now that I am participating in a Photographic Society of America (PSA) digital dialog for video, I am dusting off old videos. This month, I did some minor editing of footage taken on Christmas Day 2009. One of the big changes I made was the soundtrack. I previously used the original Above the Northern Lights by Mannheim Steamroller, which is sung. This week, after much searching, I located an instrumental version that I didn’t know existed. As much as I love the sung version, the words are about the Arctic, not the Antarctic. They also reference the Northern Lights. But at Christmas time in Antarctica, it is mostly light out, so the southern aurora can't be seen.
The images in this video were all taken on Christmas day and evening in the Port Lockroy area of the British Antarctic Territory. I captured the video. Both Glen and I captured the stills. Port Lockroy is a nesting site for penguins. Some penguins were building rock nests, some were warming eggs, and others were caring for their hatched chicks. This day was unusually warm for Antarctica, and quite sunny too. In addition to penguins, you’ll see a few Antarctic shags, which are similar to cormorants, and one small octopus—a rare site. At this time of year, the sun never really sets.