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made unusual by the cold translu- cent quality of the light... just the right amount of shadow detail and blacks that hinted at hidden mysteries.
Working in these conditions I noticed the film became a little brittle and I felt like I had to be careful in the way that I handled it. But to be honest, cold hands apart, the camera and lenses performed very well.
The XTR Prod has a heater which kicks in at minus 10C, and in the evenings when I went
inside, I made sure that I placed the lenses in a sealed plastic bag to avoid any condensation problems.
I suppose I did find out what it’s like to work in such extreme tempera- tures, but I still can only guess at the hardships Herbert Ponting endured as he struggled to make his primitive kit work in temperatures of minus 30C and below.
The film that he made is a beauti- ful testimony to the pioneering spirit that all these explorers embodied, and I felt proud and humbled to have been given the opportunity to travel the same road as these remarkable men.”JONATHAN PARTRIDGE