Right Place, Right Time, Phenomenal Shot

Sydney Morning Herald

Wednesday November 1, 2006

Richard Macey

AS A technical officer at Casey Antarctic station, Ian Phillips ensures the base's computers and radios are working, keeping it in touch with the world.

But Phillips, who has just started his third Antarctic posting, also has a passion for photographing the frozen continent.

"It's a stunning place," he says, "and you get to take photographs the average photographer can't do. It's always different."

One of those "different" opportunities has won Phillips a place in the Bureau of Meteorology's 2007 calendar featuring unusual and spectacular weather scenes.

On Easter Sunday last year he rose early to shoot what he hoped would be an amazing sunrise, "but it was too cloudy for any decent pictures", he recalled. So he marched back to the base. "As I was walking to the station it popped up in front of me." Looking up from the snow and ice he witnessed a sight few have seen - a bright beam of light called a solar pillar, standing on the horizon.

"I thought, 'Wow!' I was probably the only person up."

Solar pillars occur when sunlight reflects off ice crystals in the atmosphere.

Phillips quickly fired off a photograph of the solar pillar towering behind the base's stark stand of gas cylinders. By the time he had shifted to a spot with more attractive foreground scenery a minute later the pillar had faded.

The calendar, which will be launched today, costs $17.50 including postage. Photo gallery at smh.com.au

© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald

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