The opening shot of a photo essay should set a tone or theme for what is to follow. I open my essay on Antarctica with this shot made from the deck of a ship in heavy weather off Cape Horn. At this place, the Atlantic Ocean meets the Pacific, and winds deflected down the Andes are free to bend and race past the Horn like a snapping whip. Bad weather is what makes this part of the earth terrifying, yet special. My precarious vantage point – hanging on to a railing with one hand and shooting with the other -- features the blowing and churning seas, and also the distant but distinct shape of Cape Horn in the misty background, which adds context. For centuries, sailing ships were tossed about and smashed to pieces in these waters -- the 600-mile wide Drake Passage separating Antarctica, the Great White Continent, from the tip of South America.