The USAP celebrates Thanksgiving in style! OK, so they move it to a Saturday to better accommodate the field schedule down here, but it is quite a splash! The kitchen and volunteer helpers really outdid themselves. There was turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole (yum!), mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, green beans, sweet potato casserole, crab legs, 2 or 3 kinds of stuffing, salads cut veggies, 5 kinds of pies/cakes, chocolate covered strawberries, cherries fresh strawberries… and chocolate mousse skuas!

mmm tasty dessert skua

I can’t believe that I am sitting in a cozy living room and blogging from ANTARCTICA! The kettle is on I am sitting on a couch and I am in Antarctica. Outside my window is a giant rack of wooden sleds. Just as soon as I post this blog I am going to have a proper wonder around town, McMurdo Station and take pictures that I can share with you all.



Me on arrival, so excited and so jet lagged

See all my images from this trip.

Runrise over Tarpon Bay.

The Florida everglades are expansive and rich with wildlife. Much of the southern tip of Florida is protected as part of Everglades National Park and several surrounding wildlife preserves. However, this remaining wet land habitat is only a fraction of the original habitat that existed only 75 or 100 years ago. Luckily, in the last decade or so, we have started to take an interest in restoring some of the everglades by restoring the natural slow flow of water through the wet lands. As a part of this effort hundreds of scientists are studying the ecosystem at every level.

Well I have arrived in Christchurch….just one more flight! I think that so far the weather is looking good for tomorrow. I need to check-in, then weigh-in (and go through customs again) at 7 am. Apparently that is a “lie-in”. In the “good old days” check-in started at 2:30 in the morning.

Appropriate plane clothes

…and I am excited, if not quite ready, to go.  My friend Kari wanted to make sure that I was adequately prepared for the trip. Apparently she expects me to be chafed and bored. That is probably a good guess if bad weather rolls in. Actually I have been warned that it can be painfully dry in Antarctica  so, I am sure that I will treasure the moisture cream.

Tomorrow, November 23,  I start my “flight Odyssey”. I fly from Washington D.C. to LA to Sydney to Christchurch. I will overnight in Christchurch and then fly on military transport to McMurdo Station. With some luck, I will be in Antarctica while you all are napping off Thanksgiving dinner.

I will try to post a few times a week from now until I leave the Ice on December 20…but no promises.

It has been a busy 4 days since I left DC and returned to my nesting grounds in Houston. In that time I’ve had the opportunity to shoot several different events. Rather than trying to post about them individually, I figure I’ll sum it all up here in one post and point everyone to the other places the complete image sets are posted.

Thursday night I headed to The Chocolate Bar in Rice Village for some lindy with live music from Buzz and the Blue Cats. I didn’t take a ton of pictures but a few are posted below. More can be found in my profile on facebook.

Friday night I got invited as a “plus 1″ by a close mutual friend of the band to the SEARCH Homeless Services “Picnic in the Park” charity concert at Discovery Green featuring Molly & the Ringwalds. Of course I brought my camera gear along and photographed the fun. Preview below and see all the pictures here.

Sunday morning I had the privilege of photographing a family friend, her husband and their lovely daughter in Herman Park near the medical center in Houston. The weather held (over cast, but no rain) and we had a great session. Apparently it was photography day in the park too. We saw at least 6 other groups taking photos. Highlights below.

All in all, it was a good couple of days!

While wondering around the Korean Memorial near the Lincoln Memorial, I discovered a film crew and Navy drill team working on what I assume was a commercial. They had posted signs stating that everyone in the area gave implicit consent to be filmed or photographed just by being there. They didn’t bother to say to whom the consent was given so I assumed it was to anyone that wished to film or photograph. I stuck around and captured a few shots of the team and film crew just for fun. There wasn’t an angle that I could get a “clean” shot of the team due to the camera men and all, but the light was excellent (guess they knew what they were doing).