Regarding himself as a ‘camera artist’, Ponting pursued his craft with an ambitious determination that involved a certain disregard for the safety of his fellow expedition crew members, who were often caught up in his pursuit of the perfect picture. Clissold, the expedition cook, fell victim to this single-mindedness when he was injured after falling from the Matterhorn berg, on which he was ‘ponting’ – as posing for the photographer became known – for this picture. Ponting had ambitions beyond capturing perfectly composed images: he hoped that his visual records – comprising more than 1,700 photographic plates – would be ‘of some permanent benefit to geography’, and considered alongside geological and meteorological observations as a contribution to the knowledge of Antarctica. Mount Erebus, which forms the background to this photograph, is the world’s southernmost historically active volcano. It was discovered in 1841 by Sir James Clark Ross, who named it after his ship and the Greek god of darkness.

Photograph from the archive of the Royal Geographical Society