In 2019, Airbnb & Ocean Conservancy led an expedition to the interior of Antarctica and The South Pole, where I served as Director of Photography for a film series exploring the potential pollution of Earth’s last great wilderness. Five ‘citizen scientists’ assisted British environmental scientist Kirstie Jones-Williams with her ground-breaking research on microplastics, collecting snow samples from remote locations and processing them in a lab back at basecamp with a later analyze back at Cambridge. The series was comprised of three short films documenting the experiences of the five volunteers and their leader on the month long expedition training in the Patagonia region of Chile before heading south to study and explore one of our planet’s greatest remaining wildernesses – Antarctica.

“Plastic pollution is one of the most visible, most prolific threats to our ocean today. The impact of microplastics is less visible to the naked eye, but no less important, and we are thrilled that more people are getting the chance to see this issue up close.” - Nick Mallos, senior director of Ocean Conservancy’s Trash Free Seas program.

“Ultimately this entire project is about looking after our planet” says citizen scientist Kjersti, 37, from Oslo.

By showing the effects of pollution in the far reaches of our planet, Jones-Williams hopes to create a sense of responsibility around protecting our natural world and inspire environmental ambassadors.