As the cold weather front begins its ominous descent towards our islands, bear a thought for Herbert Ponting, the quintessential photographer as explorer and official photographer on Scott’s ill-fated Antarctica Expedition of 1912. Between 1911 and 1912, Ponting took more than 1,700 photographic plates to shape a narrative of what was expected to be a highly successful and lucrative expedition. He also took along one of the very first movie cameras for good measure before returning home and wishing Scott’s expeditionary team good luck for their catastrophic push south.
In the aftermath of a failed expedition and with the onset of World War I, Ponting’s Antarctic work had become all but redundant, drawing only minor interest in the post-war years. It wasn’t until 2004, some 50 years after Ponting’s death, that the Scott Polar Research Institute purchased his photographic collection for £533,000.
To see more of this fascinating archive, wrap up warm and visit www.freezeframe.ac.uk.
This article contributed by Jonathan Hardman.
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