I recently received the news that my application for the distinction, Fellow of the Photographic Society of New Zealand (FPSNZ) has been successful. My set of 18 images were submitted in the nature section as a digital set.

The statement of intent submitted was as follows:

Emperor Penguins of Gould Bay

I had the privilege of spending 7 days camping on the sea ice with the southernmost Emperor Penguin colony in late 2024. Emperor Penguins survive the harshest of conditions and are the only penguin to breed in Antarctica during winter. Only 10% of chicks survive the first year of life. At the time of my visit, the chicks were aged between 1.5 and 2.5 months.

In planning for the visit, I saw this as a perfect opportunity to explore adult behaviours and chick learnings, particularly recognising characteristics that help the colony survive: learning behaviour, (dependence) and interdependence but also being able to fend for themselves.

During my time there, air temperatures were relatively mild (around -15 Celsius) but there were ample opportunities to explore skill acquisition and changing relationships as the adults started to leave the colony in significant numbers for feeding purposes.

The 18 images are below. I encourage you to look at them in numerical order - this is the sequence as seen by the assessment panel. As always, click on the image to see a larger version.