Photo: Priscila Buschinelli
The relief of Rothera. The ships cargo is being distrubuted throughout the base with the aid of various vehicles including this loading shovel.
During my residency in Antarctica I stayed at the Rothera Research Station. The ship I arrived on not only brought in new British Antarctic Survey staff but also that years provisions and equipment. Hence the arrival of the ship sparked intense activity as the ship was unloaded and Rothera was relieved.
The base has expanded slowly since the first building was constructed in 1976. It has also adapted to accommodate new technologies and equipment. As well as a modern runway there are a whole collection of vehicles that include a variety of bulldozers and diggers. The base also has the internet.
I was very late to using digital technology and only bought my first laptop a week before I left on my journey. The wonder of having 24 hr access to the internet in Antarctica was accentuated for me personally because at the time I didn't even have it in my home. I also had a couple of digital cameras in Antarctica that I was still trying to work out how to use. I also had a 35 mm camera with quite a few rolls of 35 mil slide film. I intended to take most of my images with this but predictably I ran out of slide film very quickly. To my amazement, in a refrigerator on the base was a huge supply of old slide film left over from decades of previous photographic projects. This included several rolls of Kodachrome I was told to help myself becasue nobody used it anymore. When I returned from Antarctica and sent the films away to be processed in the Kodak lab in Switzerland, it was announced on the news that Kodak were ceasing production of kodachrome after nearly 75 years. My slide films must have been some of the last ever processed. There were still some boxes of Kodachrome left in fridge when i left.
I knew before i left for Antarctica that there would be vehicles like this on the base as British Antarctic Survey have lots of images on their website. I found this one on a car boot sale and bought for less than 50 pence. Photo: Priscila Buschinelli
The one roll of Kodachrome I had left and brought back with me. Photo Priscila Buschinelli