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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Eleven: Aspects of Antarctica – a travel photo-essay > A Study in Scale, Antarctica, 2004
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07-JAN-2004

A Study in Scale, Antarctica, 2004

Dreams are based on fantasy. To see a huge cruise ship reduced to the size of a toy is an unforgettable experience. I shot this image from the bow of a bouncing Zodiac on the way back to our ship from Cuverville Island. To see a large ship appear small at a great distance is commonplace. But to see one utterly dwarfed by the scene behind it is not. This, too, is the stuff of dreams – it indelibly defines the vast scale of the Antarctic landscape.

Canon PowerShot G5
1/800s f/4.0 at 7.2mm full exif

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Phil Douglis20-Nov-2006 02:46
Thanks, Christine -- this image has been sitting here for almost three years, now, waiting for someone to comment on it. I am delighted the first comment came from you. You have the imagination to read what I intended into this image. It is very much a fantasy, as I said in my caption. The scale incongruity here is staggering -- a cruise ship dwarfed by cliffs of snow and rock. You are right -- Antarctica is one of the last places on earth with no permanent population, no cities, towns, roads, or communications media. It is still unspoiled -- just the way it always has been. Its only concession to man is to act as host to cruise ships and scientific expeditions. The rest of it is, as you note, a pure fantasy world.
Christine P. Newman19-Nov-2006 13:47
Phl, I guess we accept it because Antarctica is still an indiscovered world, a world of fantasy, almost like in children stories for many of us.
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