When Herbert G. Ponting was hired as a photographer to accompany the British Antarctic Expedition in 1910, he had already attained fame in his trade. The expedition Ponting took part in continued until 1913 under the leadership of Captain Robert Falcon Scott. Captain Scott and four crew members eventually went missing on their way home after conquering the South Pole, and the entire project became an important and meaningful historical event as one of the earliest expeditions to the Antarctic Pole.
Ponting shot more than 1,700 large-sized glass plate negatives, which are presently stored at the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge. Realized in cooperation with the Scott Polar Research Institute and the printers and editors of Salto Ulbeek, this portfolio contains the first ever reproductions of Ponting's works by platinum printing technology, combining the outstanding durability, sublime beauty and excellent quality of platinum prints.
The portfolio was printed from Ponting's original negatives arranged with the typical depth of platinum prints. It also features a special essay, and will surely play a part in bringing to light the as-yet unseen fruits of Ponting's efforts at the Antarctic Pole.
Established in 1920 as a national memorial institution in honor of those who passed away during the expedition, the Scott Polar Research Institute is the oldest international polar research laboratory. A hub for research at the Arctic and Antarctic Poles, the Institute accommodates one of the world's most extensive libraries of books on topics related to polar zones, a voluminous archive documenting the history of polar expeditions, and a museum introducing both the history and present scientific significance of polar expeditions. Its ample facilities and safe storage make the Institute an appropriate place for preserving Herbert G. Ponting's negatives for generations to come.
Ponting's photographic documentation of the expedition is a vital element in the story of Captain Scott. His photographs colorfully illustrate the expedition team as they live, work, and rest, while at the same time depicting food, cold weather gear, and massive sleds – indeed a heavy burden – at the South Pole. One distinctive characteristic of Ponting's work is that it documents at once daily life during the Antarctic expedition, and scientific studies of the ice continent and the adjacent sea.
Those photographs show in stimulating images the ice-covered sea of the Antarctic Continent, icebergs resembling towering castles, the base camp against a backdrop of rugged volcanoes, and their ship, the Terra Nova, as it combats and eventually anchors in the ice. The high-definition, high-quality photographs made from Ponting's large format glass plate negatives vividly depict various scenes of the South Pole expedition, and those beautifully stimulating pictures surely capture in detail their sympathy and thoughts on the Antarctic Continent in enduring images.
Captions, numbers and footnotes in this portfolio were adopted from materials of the Scott Polar Research Institute.