Will Lawler, Deception Island Antarctica (LANDSCAPE 2023)

Deception Island has a troubled and dark past as fur seal station from the 1820's and subsequently a whaling station from the early 1900's. The island itself is a caldera of an active volcano and ships can enter the caldera through what is known as Neptune's Bellows. Inside the caldera seal and whaling boats were protected from the harshest of nautical polar climates. The landscape is dark volcanic rock and black sands that together with rusted-out whaling station artefacts and blubber tanks cast a pall of fear and sadness. However, sunrise on this day brought fresh overnight snow and hues of pinks and blues creating a magical and ethereal environment. Populations of fur seals and whales continue to recover in this location, and if you look carefully, in one image those black dots in the foreground are fur seals. In my mind at least, these images reflect a new dawn in more ways than one.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.