--- title: Antarctica's Brutal Beauty: Portraits From the Bottom of the World description: In 1964, LIFE photographer Michael Rougier accompanied an expedition to the least-visited continent — and nearly lost his life. canonical: https://time.com/3661738/antarctica-photographs-1965/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-01-31T17:34:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:06:19.111Z og:title: Antarctica's Brutal Beauty: Portraits from the Bottom of the World og:description: In 1964, LIFE photographer Michael Rougier accompanied an expedition to the least-visited continent — and nearly lost his life. og:url: https://time.com/3661738/antarctica-photographs-1965/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2fc742e2e0f50f58/6987791a8e06015ca3459a18/140226-antarctica-michael-rougier-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Antarctica 1964 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Antarctica's Brutal Beauty: Portraits from the Bottom of the World twitter:description: In 1964, LIFE photographer Michael Rougier accompanied an expedition to the least-visited continent — and nearly lost his life. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2fc742e2e0f50f58/6987791a8e06015ca3459a18/140226-antarctica-michael-rougier-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Antarctica's Brutal Beauty: Portraits from the Bottom of the World > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Jan 31, 2014 5:34 PM UTC  Penguins, Antarctica, 1964. Penguins, Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Jan 31, 2014 5:34 PM UTC In 1964, photographer Michael Rougier accompanied an expedition to the bottom of the world, where researchers planned to retrace the steps of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s legendary (and ill-fated) World War I-era Antarctic expedition. By the time LIFE magazine published his pictures in May 1965, the focus of the story had narrowed considerably — namely, Rougier’s photos appeared in an article about American and Russian scientists studying the navigational prowess of [Adélie penguins](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad%C3%A9lie%5FPenguin). Along the way, he made countless pictures of the charming creatures and their cousins — Emperor penguins, for example — in their brutal, gorgeous natural habitat. Not incidentally, he also almost lost his life. Just another assignment for a photojournalist whose talent was matched only by his versatility. Born in England in June 1925, Rougier shot for LIFE for a quarter century, covering the Korean War, the Boy Scouts, drug-addled Japanese teens, the 1956 [Hungarian revolution](http://life.time.com/history/the-hungarian-revolution-of-1956-photos-from-the-streets-of-budapest/#1), horse racing and myriad other subjects. The pictures he made in Antarctica in 1964, meanwhile, remain among his most impressive: it’s hard to think of another photographer who, in black and white, could so neatly capture both the forbidding beauty of the great southern continent and the endearing quirkiness of its most famous residents. At one point during the assignment, however, things went terribly wrong for Rougier, as he lost his footing and went sliding — for close to half a mile, out of control — down the side of a glacier. As his daughter Karen recently told LIFE.com, her dad managed to save himself. Barely. “As a last gasp,” Karen Rougier says, “he threw his pick out to grab the ice, and that’s what kept him from sliding right off the edge of the glacier.” Rougier was badly hurt in the accident, but after recovering he went on to complete many more assignments, for LIFE and other publications. Michael Rougier died just two years ago, in January 2012\. A small peak near where he almost lost his life, east of Antarctica’s LaPrade Valley, was named Rougier Hill in tribute to him.  Sept. 17, 2008\. North Korean girls jump ropes during a "mass games" performance at a stadium in Pyongyang. David Guttenfelder—AP Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at [@LizabethRonk](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk).  Penguins, Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Adélie penguin, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Penguins, Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Penguins, Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Seal, Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Scientists, helped by Navy personnel, carry boxed penguins to a Navy transport to be taken to a distant release point. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Antarctica, 1964. 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