The Magazine of The Sierra Club
Astonishing Photos Capture the Lucid Beauty of Polar Ice
Camille Seaman's mesmerizing photography clarifies the Arctic's vanishing reality
Photos by Camille Seaman
Breaching Iceberg, Greenland 2009
Stranded Iceberg, Cape Bird, Antarctica, Ross Sea, December 2006
Iceberg reflected in Neko Harbour, Antarctic Peninsula, 2017
The Lemaire Channel has the ability to create some of the most spectacular sunsets in December, when the days are the longest.
Iceberg in a blood-red sea, Lemaire Channel, December 2017. Unusual light conditions created this stunning scene.
Looking at the icebergs near Franklin Island, Ross Sea, Antarctica, December 2006
A large tabular iceberg has snapped in half off the shores of Elephant Island near Point Wild. South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, December 2017
Icebergs drifting off the coast near Brown Bluff, Antarctica, December 2017
A Humpback whale mother and calf come to investigate our vessel in the cold waters of Antarctica, December 2017.
Sea-ice fragments litter the scenic Lemaire Channel, December 2017
The colder parts of our planet never really interested Camille Seaman very much when she was younger. Part of the reason she moved to California after graduating from college was to escape New York’s extreme winters and summers. She was content to be in Oakland doing traditional beadwork, making moccasins and jewelry for sale at galleries all over the country. But life had other plans for her—and it all began with an oversold flight to Los Angeles, and a free round-trip ticket to anywhere she wanted to go (click here for a full interview with Camille Seaman and her daughter Tala Powis Parker).
After taking a trip to Kotzebue, Alaska, to connect with her Native American (Shinnecock) ancestors, Seaman embarked on a new path: to use photography as a way to capture the lucid beauty of polar ice. Since taking her first trip to the Arctic in 2003, she has delivered a mesmerizing series of compelling photographs that turn massive icebergs into iconic portraits of a vanishing ecoystem.
Photography for Seaman, beyond other media, is not just about capturing the landscape and her experience of it, but also about sharing and building connections.
"I think that photography is powerful because it is not only able to convey information as a document, but if it's done well it can convey emotion. You might say, 'Well you know video is the same,' but something about still images can haunt you," she told Sierra. "I'm very much aware that I have a privilege, a true privilege, to witness the things that I do. With that privilege comes responsibility. It's almost as if those icebergs are saying, 'Please tell our story,' in the same way that refugees say, 'Please tell our story,' in the same way that someone being politically suppressed is asking, 'Please tell our story,' where there's any kind of injustice. An image has the ability to convey and communicate. I know that it's my responsibility to work as hard as I can to make sure that those images are seen by as many people as possible so that they have a chance to communicate their story."