For the first meeting of the New Year, members were treated to a tour-de-force of nature photography. The Nature of the Falkland Islands talk was given by professional photographer and tour guide Mark Sisson. Mark has been a professional for over twenty years and confessed that if he could only ever visit one location in the world it would be the Falkland Islands. The richness of the unique wildlife there is protected by low levels of human interference with a sparse population. He has published a book of nature photography of the islands in association with Falklands Conservation, a charity devoted to protecting the diverse ecosystem. There are two main islands in the archipelago and some 700 smaller islands that go to make up this expansive area.
The two most iconic species on these sub-Antarctic islands are the penguins and albatross. Mark showed images of the characteristic black-browed albatross, including the nearly half a million birds on a three mile stretch of Steeple Jason island, the largest colony in the world.
As well as educating us on the habitat and life cycle of these impressive birds, Mark also showed us how best to capture them with a camera and how to choose the best conditions and composition to create photographic impact.
He took the same approach with his images of various species of penguin, emphasising not only eye-level lens contact to engage the viewer but also getting even lower to encompass the landscape in which they live. Among the species he featured were the agile and determined Rockhoppers,
the beautifully-marked King penguins,
the diminutive Magellanic penguins and the speedy-swimming gentoo penguins.
All had their different endearing features, but apparently it was gentoo chicks that scored highest for cuteness!
Among the many other birds that Mark illustrated were the predatory skua and crested caracara, the charismatic silvery grebe with piggy-backing chick, the imperial cormorant with its striking blue eye, Magellanic snipe, two-banded plover, the colourful dotterel and kelp geese. Not that mammals escaped Mark’s sensitive and imaginative camera with sealions predating on Magellanic penguins and elephant seals justifying the epithet, although the ‘cuteness’ of the sleeping young elephant seal did very much depend on the beholder’s eye!
Mark’s easy presentation style, encyclopedic knowledge and mind-blowing images ensured that the evening was a pleasure from start to finish and he was rewarded with enthusiastic applause from a captivated audience.
Keith Snell