Peter Eastway's Better Photography Magazine

Catabatic winds from nearby glaciers sound interesting enough until you find yourself in the middle of them, half way up a steep slope covered in slippery ice.

Neko Harbour was an interesting excursion!! We landed ashore in front of a huge glacier and colonies of penguins, then took a short walk up a slippery, snow and ice covered hill to a lookout across the bay and the glacier.

When I first arrived, the view was reasonably clear, but the weather didn't remain cooperative for very long. The wind picked up ice and snow from the glacier and drove it into our faces. The only solution was to look away and head back down the hill - and this in itself was quite a visual thrill.

Landscape Photography Tip

Don't stop taking photographs just because the weather turns foul. Often foul weather produces some of the best light and atmosphere for landscapes, all you need to find is a suitable subject.

The fierce catabatic winds from the glacier made it difficult to stand up, let alone walk down the slippery slope in treadless Wellington boots, but they also whipped up the snow so much that the other passengers climbing up the hill were surrounded with a swirling white mist. The view was quite enchanting.

Photographer Malcolm Godde was walking up, camera and tripod over his shoulder. His bright yellow jacket and Lowepro Dry Zone camera bag made him an ideal subject against a colourless grey backdrop. Fleetingly when the wind abated momentarily you could see the dark grey of the ocean through the shifting snow.

By this stage I had returned my Phase One to my own Dry Zone camera bag and it was safely on my back. I used my tripod as a walking stick to help myself down the slope, but from time to time I'd stop, sit and observe. It was the perfect conditions for ski goggles and I just loved watching the climbers waft in and out of view while the wind tore around my jacket and tried to reef my beanie off.

It was in these conditions that the little Panasonic Lumix GF1 came in handy. It was tucked away in my jacket and easily accessible, so I spent a fun half hour photographing and videoing passengers walking up and sliding down the hill with a wonderfully vague background of windborn snow. While still photos were great, I think it is the video and the wind whistling in the microphone that really capture the moment - another plus point for the Lumix GF1 with its HD video (720p).

When I opened the file in Photoshop, the image had lost some of the brightness and drama I remembered. We have to remember that we're dealing with cameras and cameras are designed to produce an average exposure in average conditions. The GF1 had correctly rendered the scene a mid-grey, so in Photoshop I lightened up the file to return the snow to its whiter state. This is one of the big advantages of using a compact camera like the GF1: you're shooting with raw files, using a large size sensor (large for a compact camera) and good quality optics. There's a little bit of grain in the file due to the way I have increased the local contrast with curves in Photoshop, but I really like it. I think it adds to the atmosphere.

Panasonic Lumix GF1 with 14-45mm zoom at 14mm

f10.0 @ 1/640, ISO 100

This version of the image can be enlarged using the four controls on the photo. Roll over with your mouse to find them. The far right control gives you a full screen view. As you enlarge, you may need to wait a short time while the high resolution files load.