Australe: New Photography Book by Alison Bounce Explores Journey to Antarctica

We're excited to announce Australe, the latest photography book by award-winning fine art underwater photographer, author, and Ikelite Ambassador Alison Bounce. 

Six years ago Alison Bounce took a leap of faith and boarded a sailboat headed toward Antarctica, now she's sharing her story. Australe takes readers on a journey to Antartica, through the Drake Passage, icy waters, and personal discovery. Filled with exquisite photographs and notes from Alison's logbooks, Australe is a visual ride through a landscape seen by very few and dreamed of by many. 

"People often asked me why? Why Antarctica, why sailing? I answered with the words I had available: curiosity, the desire to learn, to see. The real answer came later, out at sea. Face to face with silence. With solitude... I had come to measure myself against something larger, to unlearn everything I knew and find another way of being."

Australe: A Sneak Peak

"I was thirty-one years old. A life lived at full speed, punctuated by travel, encounters, underwater photography. And one morning, the decision to let all of it go and sail toward the ends of the earth." © Alison Bounce

"The penguins approach with confidence, because they have not yet learned to fear us." © Alison Bounce

"In January 2020, I stepped aboard the Podorange, a twenty-metre steel sailing vessel built for the most demanding seas, with no prior knowledge of sailing. Four weeks ahead of me: the Drake Passage, the Antarctic Circle, and landscapes that only a handful of human beings have ever had the privilege of approaching... What I had not anticipated was how long it would take, once home, to understand what those images were actually carrying. Years passed before I could accept what was emerging from them despite myself. And then another year to find the words that could stand beside them." © Alison Bounce

"The humpback whales surface a few metres from the hull, exhale, and disappear back into the dark water." © Alison Bounce

Alison writing diligently in her logbook aboard the Pondorange between dives and adventures on the ice. 

"Some journeys begin with a decision. Others begin with something harder to name, a pull, a quiet insistence that grows until you can no longer ignore it. Antarctica was that kind of call."

Get Your Copy of Australe

Australe is shipping now, you can purchase your copy on Alison's website.

Note: This edition of Australe is published in French.

Additional Viewing

How Motherhood Transformed Alison Bounce's Underwater Maternity Photography

Behind the Scenes of Alison Bounce's Underwater Portraiture Workshop

REBORN // Underwater Documentary Film on Endometriosis [VIDEO]

Through the Ice in Antarctica: A Legacy with Ikelite

Underwater Photography in Antarctica with Grant Thomas

Ambassador Alison Bounce is a French underwater photographer who creates poetic and emotional portraits inspired by mythology, motherhood and movement. Her sessions take place in the sea or in calm waters, offering a gentle and powerful space for women, couples and families to reconnect with themselves. Her work explores transformation, rebirth and self-expression. A journey shaped by water and light. Check out her work at alisonbounceunderwater.com and follow her on Instagram @alisonbounceunderwater