Monique O’Neil is a New Zealand-based photographer who specializes in landscape and fashion photography. Enjoy her words and photos from a recent opportunity to visit the frigid continent of Antarctica…

My father and I began this journey by flying into Argentina and headed down to Ushuaia, which is the most southern city on earth. From there we boarded an expedition ship called the Ocean Diamond and made our way across the Drake Passage — the shortest distance by sea, but one of the world’s roughest patches of open water. Antarctica is a very remote, harsh and beautiful place with a landscape and environment that’s constantly changing. It truly is a world of its own.