This photo, Snow petrel in flight, was taken on Shirley Island, just across the frozen channel from Casey, during a walk with my Bureau of Meteorology colleague, Joel. It was early spring but already time for the Adélie penguins to start arriving. There was only one on the whole island, walking around and calling towards the open waters in the hope of finding a mate. Suddenly Joel said: ‘Look there — a snow petrel!' As I had my camera already to my eye, photographing the ice cliff in the foreground, I looked straight through it and this is what I saw.
Todor Iolovski has just spent his first winter in Antarctica working as a meteorology technician for the Bureau of Meteorology. Photography has been a serious hobby for Todor since he bought his first little Russian camera over 30 years ago. He says Antarctica is the most photogenic environment he has lived in and he hopes to convey its striking beauty through pictures. Todor won the $2000 Pure Tasmania — Wayne Papps Prize for his image Wilkes — Forever in the Ice, and a special commendation for At the fringes of the Earth, in the Antarctic Midwinter Festival Extreme Environment Photographic Competition in June this year.