The landscapes and wildlife of

South Georgia Island

Photography Exhibition

Peter Cosier and Graham Robertson

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Wild Island Gallery

February 2021

The island of South Georgia is about 120 miles in length while its extreme breath does not exceed 12 miles. It exhibits a ridge of high terrific mountains which extend from one end of the island to the other and which gradually descends and breaks off in a thousand different forms toward the sea. In the winter and spring it resembles an immense iceberg from its summit to its base. Its appearance is sufficient to cause a stouthearted man to shiver with cold anticipations.

Thomas W. Smith

A narrative of the Life, Travels and Sufferings of Thomas W. Smith (1844)

Peter and Graham have shared a passion for wildlife conservation and photography dating back to the 1970s, when they first met in western NSW. They both now live in Tasmania and have come together to produce their first exhibition of the landscapes and wildlife of South Georgia Island, a remote island deep in the southern ocean, 2,000 km east of Cape Horn.

Their images show a very different interpretation of this isolated and majestic landscape. Graham has spent a lifetime capturing on film the wildlife of Antarctica, whereas Peter has long held a passion for the grandeur of fine art, black and white landscape photography in the tradition of Ansel Adams.

Graham’s images date back to the 1990s when he visited South Georgia for the first time, specifically to photograph the courtship dance of the Wandering Albatross. He used the best cameras, the best lenses, and the best film available. The extraordinary colour prints from this exhibition have been made from digitized transparencies by Simon Olding at the fine art printers Full Gamut, in Hobart.

Peter’s fine art black and white images are from a 47 megapixel digital camera that was purchased specifically for the trip he made to South Georgia Island in the summer of 2018. His 43cm x 70cm (17” x 27”) prints are all made on his Epson P800, using Quadtone software to add a rich tone to his traditional black and white interpretations of this remarkable landscape.

When combined, Peter’s and Graham’s images give a rare contrasting insight into this wonderful remote island in the Southern Ocean from very different perspectives: from near 3,000 metre high mountains surrounded by glaciers and ice; to the delicate, intricate beauty of the Wandering Albatross.