SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (June 08, 2023) – In celebration of World Oceans Day, leading Australian expedition company Aurora Expeditions announces its special limited-time-only offers on exceptional itineraries to Antarctica for the 2023/24 season for travellers to experience the spectacular Antarctic Ocean and its fascinating inhabitants.

World Oceans Day “is to inform the public of the impact of human actions on the ocean, develop a worldwide movement of citizens for the ocean, and mobilize and unite the world’s population on a project for the sustainable management of the world's oceans,” according to the United Nations. 

“Thank you, Aurora for the approach that you use to keep people inspired about the ocean,” Dr Earle commented. “Exploring the ocean, using knowledge to take care of all this on our planet. I’m looking at Aurora as the voice of the ocean.”  

Aurora Expeditions, since its inception 32 years ago, has been committed to responsible travel, encouraging our expeditioners to become ambassadors for the planet. We pride ourselves on innovation and pushing boundaries of discovery to provide unique, captivating experiences for our expeditioners while maintaining minimal evidence of our visit. Travel is an excellent educator and Aurora is offering the chance to enrich our passengers’ curiosity through its current savings* for its Antarctic 2023/24 sailings valid from June 15, 2023.

Aurora is offering an air credit of AU$1000 per person* on its Antarctic Explorer Express. Departing Ushuaia, Argentina on February 10, 2024, onboard Aurora’s latest purpose-built ship, the Sylvia Earle, the 9-day journey is ideal for travellers with limited time. This fly/sail voyage returns to Punta Arenas, Chile on February 18, 2024, and is priced from US$11,785.50 per person in a Balcony Stateroom Category C, a saving of US$1,309.50 per person (10%) however there is limited availability so be quick to book this voyage.  

Aurora Expeditions is also offering up to 25% savings* on its Special Guest and themed voyages for this Antarctic season. 

Those fascinated with the ill-fated Shackleton voyage will be keen to travel with Saunders Carmichael-Brown on its 14-day  Deep Weddell following Nordenskjold departing March 24, 2024. During this journey, Saunders, an award-winning digital and broadcast presenter and producer with a background in adventure travel and sustainability, will regale his adventures of being an integral part of the team on the 2022 Endurance Antarctic Expedition that found Sir Ernest Shackleton’s famous shipwreck. Saunders was fundamental in broadcasting the expedition journey and updates to millions of viewers across the world.

Climate action enthusiasts will enjoy spending time with Don Maruska, entrepreneur and author, and Aurora Special Guest on its 12-day Spirit of Antarctica departing December 11, 2023. Don is a respected business motivator and coach, specialising in sustainability actions. He’s written many books including How Great Decisions Get Made and Solve Climate Change Now: Do What You Love for a Healthy Planet.

Dynamic couple Jett and Kathryn Britnell will be Aurora Expeditions Special Guests on its 18-day Circle and Weddell voyage departing March 08, 2024. These intrepid explorers and marine conservationist scuba divers will help expeditioners with their underwater photography. Jett’s images have appeared on over 50 magazine covers.

Avid photographers can also join our other professional, award-winning photographer Special Guests Peter Eastway and Richard I’Anson to learn how to take exquisite shots in the Antarctic’s amazing light.  Join Peter on the 12-day Spirit of Antarctica departing January 09, 2024, or the 24-day South Georgia & Antarctic Odyssey featuring South Sandwich Islands departing January 19, 2024.  Join Richard on the 14-day Across the Antarctic Circle departing February 25, 2024

Also of interest to Shackleton enthusiasts is our Falklands, South Georgia & Antarctic Peninsula 21-day voyage departing November 15, 2023, where adventurous passengers can follow Shackleton’s crossing of South Georgia by foot while currently saving 10%.

Another special voyage offering a 10% saving is our Founder’s Voyage Across the Antarctic Circle departing December 14, 2023.  Spend a white festive season with Aurora Expeditions’ founder Greg Mortimer as your Expedition Leader.

All traveller offers are valid from June 15, 2023, and must be booked and deposited before September 30, 2023, unless sold out prior. 

Check out the details of the voyages Peter Eastway will be joining in our shop - click here.

The Top 101 portraits are published in our annual Awards book!

Show us your best shots!
Entries close 20 June 2023.
Every 5th entry free until 13 June 2023!

NB: AI generated images not allowed!

There are a lot of photography competitions to choose from, but few offer both a score for every entry and 101 chances to be a part of our amazing annual Awards book!

Check out the 2022 International Portrait Photographer of the Year Award flip-book on the website - how incredible are the world's best portrait photographers!

Now imagine how those portrait photographers feel, seeing their photos published alongside the world's best. It's a great achievement

And the International Portrait Photographer of the Year Awards book is a real book - printed on paper and bound between hard covers. You can purchase them in our on-line shop, but of course, the books are also presented as PDF flip-books here on the website for far-reaching recognition. 

This is our third International Portrait Photographer of the Year Award and we continue to follow a similar philosophy to the popular International Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards (now in its tenth year): the main aim is to be one of the Top 101 photographs of the year and be published in the book. Will you be there?

There is US$10,000 in cash prizes shared between the overall winner and 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in each of the four categories, plus a printed copy of the book from Momento Pro for these 13 winners. The remaining Top 101 photographers also have the opportunity to purchase a printed copy of the book, or of course they can download an eBook version from the website.

So, what's the process? As an entrant, your job is to impress our judges! Entry is easy - just size your file to 4000-5000 pixels on the longest side, save it as a JPEG and upload it. The entry fee is US$25 per image and if you enter by 13 June 2023, every fifth entry is free. Final entries are accepted until our revised date of 20 June 2023. 

You only need to enter one image to be eligible for the Top 101 or to win a category prize, but to win the the International Portrait Photographer of the Year, our judges need to see a minimum of four entries (although we expect most entrants will enter at least five as the fifth entry is free if completed by 13 June 2023). 

So, that's the road map! We hope you enjoy getting your entries ready for our Awards and the best of luck!

Peter Eastway

International Portrait Photographer of the Year Awards

To enter, click on the 'Entrants Login' menu button at the top right of the page of the website: https://www.internationalportraitphotographer.com/

Shark Bay, Western Australia
Phase One XF 150MP, 110mm Schneider, 1/2000 second @ f4, ISO 100

I am trying to be contemporary - meaning I'm writing this from Shark Bay. The sun is about to set, Tony Hewitt has run down to the water's edge at Monkey Mia to photograph the sky and I'm typing furiously. Maybe I'll take the iphone down to shoot a sunset after all. Please don't tell anyone I was thinking about it...

Our 8 photographers have arrived this afternoon and we're about to have evening drinks and introductions. The weather is warm with not a breath of wind, so we'll sit outside and enjoy the ambience - and talk about photography. And over the next three days we'll explore Shark Bay aerials both with our cameras and then with our imagination in post-production. Photography, I believe, is always a two-step process.

The photo above was taken this morning and the weather forecast for tomorrow (which is when you'll probably be reading this) is the same.

What a great place to spend some time taking photographs!

I really should try a little harder...