Frank Hurley and his Photographs of Antarctica

Oct 21, 2011
Brian Cross

Frank Hurley at Work in Antarctica - Hurley Collection

The groundbreaking polar photography of Australian Frank Hurley is celebrated a century on from his first visit to Antarctica with the Mawson expedition.

Frank Hurley was the first photographer to really capture the scale, beauty and natural wonders of the Antarctic continent. More than that, his work recorded with striking clarity the hardships that came with early Antarctic exploration.

Professionally trained and proficient in the arts of both still photography and cinematography, Hurley was already well regarded in Australia for his photographic work when he first went south as part of Douglas Mawson’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911–1914. Barely back from Antarctica on that venture, Hurley famously returned to the continent with Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

With the Australasian Antarctic Expedition

In Frank Hurley’s Antarctica, Helen Ennis presents a concise overview of Hurley’s life and work during those polar years. He is depicted as not only a brilliant photographer, but also an adventurer and a storyteller. Never mind that part of his motivation for joining Mawson aboard the Aurora were business difficulties back in Sydney. When Hurley got to the ice he discovered a place where he could develop his great talent for photographic inventiveness. Placed against the background of prevailing conditions and the equipment he had to work with, the results would secure Hurley’s reputation as a pioneer in the photographic art.

With Mawson, Hurley was integral to the exploration and scientific study of the part of Antarctica directly south of Australia. Mawson duly noted Hurley’s good humour in the face of adversity, his ingenuity and resourcefulness, while the photographic record would have a major role in ensuring the expedition’s lasting legacy. Photographs such as those reproduced in the book of the Aurora seen through an ice cave, or under observation by a large group of penguins, are important for the historical record.

A view of the ice pack-littered sea from the ship’s mast demonstrates the effort and risk Hurley would take to get the still or moving picture he wanted. His interest in wildlife photography quickly developed during this trip, and he became fascinated by the colours and light effects of the awesome icebergs observed from the Aurora.

Combining Photographic Negatives for Added Effect

Ennis refers in Frank Hurley’s Antarctica to equipment Hurley had at his disposal. While of high standard for the day, it was hardly designed for the rigours of use in Antarctica. Despite his technological challenges, Hurley was adept at combining different negatives in development to get the images he wanted. This was his art, not necessarily a realistic depiction at a given point in time, but a visualisation intended to convey the unique natural wonder of the continent. At other times, such as recording his companions at work or living in their close quarters, as well as in his portrait work, Hurley confined himself to showing life as it was, doing so with the clarity of a highly skilled documentary photographer.

Shackleton’s voyage to Antarctica is the stuff of great adventure at the height of Empire. Commissioned to produce the expedition’s film and photographic record, Hurley would record in detail the expedition’s progress into the Weddell Sea, the fate and eventual loss of the Endurance, the battle for survival and eventual rescue of every man. That adventure would go on for more than 18 months.

The Dramatic Events of Shackleton's Expedition

On 27 August 1915, in the depths of the southern winter, Hurley ventured out in temperatures of -70° F to photograph the doomed Endurance by flashlight. This perhaps most famous of his images he entitled The long, long night. After the ship was abandoned in November 1916, Hurley chronicled the crew’s journey northward, adrift on the ice pack before taking to the boats and reaching Elephant Island. Hurley would photograph the dramatic occasion of Shackleton’s departure seeking help on 24 April 11916, and would stand on the same piece of shoreline to catch his leader’s reappearance on the rescue ship Yelcho. Hurley called 30 August 1916, the date of the Chilean vessel’s arrival, the ‘Day of Wonders’.

In Frank Hurley’s Antarctica, Ennis’s informative text tells in brief the key facts of this wonderful polar photographic record. But what really puts Hurley’s images into context are his accompanying diary entries. A determined and committed diarist, Hurley provides great insight into the endeavours of all who ventured onto the continent of Antarctica in the early days of the 20th century. This small book wonderfully reflects not only on Hurley's work, but also on the achievements of expeditions he was a key part of.