Photo Contest Finalist: Chinstrap Penguins Climbing an Iceberg
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/20110520102413wayrick_isobel_WEB1.jpg)
Most everyone here in D.C. would prefer to forget the Snowpocalypse of 2010, but with autumn upon us, winter—and the weather that comes with it—is just around the corner. Don’t get me wrong: snow is quite pretty when it’s freshly fallen. But at this point I’d just as soon admire the stuff from afar. As far afar as humanly possible.
Other people are more amenable to snow and ice, such as Isobel Wayrick, who shot the above photo during a pleasure trip to Antarctica. The image garnered her a finalist spot in Smithsonian magazine’s 6th annual photo contest. (See even more award-winners from the 7th annual contest.)
“I had chosen the trip to Antarctica as a 70th birthday present to myself,” Wayrick recalls. “I've been fortunate to travel to many wonderful places in my lifetime, but the Antarctic scenery and wildlife is always the place that stays in my memory. I saw a small group of chinstrap penguins climbing up a beautiful and unusually sculpted iceberg, just tinged with hints of blue. The trip to Antarctica was the special birthday present I gave myself, and the image of the iceberg and penguins was the Antarctic’s very special gift to me.”
And if you’re a shutterbug with a sharp eye and have captured a picture-perfect moment, consider sending it in to Smithsonian magazine’s 8th annual photo contest. Check out more information about the rules and categories as well as an archive of past winners and finalists. You have until December 1, 2010 at 2:00 PM EST to send in your work. (But worry not: if you miss the deadline, the 9th contest is currently slated to begin again on March 1, 2011.)