On The DL

Wondrous Cold: An Arctic Journey


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Published: Oct 18, 2006

Thu., Oct. 19, 6:30 p.m. (wine reception 5:45 p.m.), $15-$20, American Philosophical Society, 431 Chestnut St., 610-649-5220, www.geographicalsociety.org

They tell me that soon we'll all be paddling little canoes full fathom five above the Kimmel Center while the sun beats down on our SPF 45-slathered faces. So it might be a good idea to check out some photos of glaciers -- while we still got 'em.

Photographer Joan Myers spent four months living at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, the American base that's home to about 1,000 people in the summer. The Geographical Society of Philadelphia has invited her to present her book, Wondrous Cold: An Antarctic Journey (Smithsonian Books), and talk about the experience. Her photos are also part of a travelling Smithsonian exhibit.

Working outside in temperatures as frigid as 40 below, she shot crevasses, the translucent blue insides of hollowed-out icebergs, whale bones washed up on the rocky beaches, and yes, penguins. "If you're going to put on an exhibition of Antarctic photographs and you don't have any penguins, then you're going to be in trouble," she laughs. But, she adds, "my main interest was how people live and work in an inhospitable place. The penguins have it easy."