By press time this week, Wimberley’s award-winning National Geographic photographer Rodney Bursiel and Los Angeles filmmaker James Cooper are officially enroute to Antarctica to begin filming their documentary, “True South: An Antarctica Story.”
The team spent 2024 fundraising for equipment and training for Phase One of the undertaking, a 27-day voyage aboard a specially- built vessel for underwater photography and filmmaking. Led by an experienced captain during Antarctica’s summer, they will share the vessel with 11 other passengers. Their journey to Antarctica will take them through the Drake passage, the body of water between South America’s Cape Horn, Chile, Argentina and the South Shetland islands.
At Blue Hole Regional Park last week, both men donned dry suits and tested other underwater gear for a trial run.
Their preparations have not been without complications. Cooper’s home in Los Angeles has been in the path of the city’s extreme wildfires. Nearly 17,000 homes have been destroyed and 28 people have perished in the fires. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes, and Cooper has been one of them.
In a text message on Monday night from Bursiel, the Wimberley View learned that Cooper narrowly escaped the devastation. The fires came within a slender half mile of his home. He was allowed to go home for a single day before meeting Bursiel in Wimberley for their January 28 departure. Late Monday night, Cooper’s visa to Antarctica was finally approved, lending even more tension to the preparations. According to Bursiel, their normal nerves of steel “have been pushed to the limit.”
The team shared a satellite link that, under specific conditions, can track their progress and send and receive messages. Should that prove to be reliable, the Wimberley View will share their updates with readers.
