HERBERT PONTING:
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Herbert Ponting: 1886 - 1974,
British, Camera Artist.

Herbert Ponting followed his father into a banking career, but soon gave it up to travel to the western United States. There he dabbled in farming, cattle and gold mining. Ponting took up photography in 1900. Later he sailed for the far east as a correspondent in the Russo-Japanese war. He was also a correspondent in the Spanish-American war. He was a pioneer in photography as an art form rather than just a means of recording events. By 1909 he had traveled the world as a famous photographer. Much of his work was in the stereo format, popular at the time

In the same year he met Commander Scott, and was appointed "camera artist" to the Terra Nova expedition. Ponting disliked the word "photographer" preferring to be called a "camera artist". He was the first photographer to travel to Antarctica. His pictures, landscapes and portraits, are perhaps the greatest ever taken of the Antarctic. He also created a film of the expedition titled 90 Degrees South. In 1933 he re-made it into a sound version, with himself as on-camera host.

The collage artist has an affinity with Ponting in that they are both “camera artists”.