AP Monthly Staff Photo Contest

Each month, The Associated Press management honors photographers for outstanding photo coverage while on assignment.

Antarctica Tourists: Be Prepared for the Wild and Unexpected

Photos by Natacha Pisarenko They trekked snow-covered mountains, gasped at seals flopping along the coastline and oohed at penguins waddling along on the ice, and even took in the spectacle of a humpback whale flapping its tail amid a sea of melting icebergs.

Antarctica’s Mysteries

Photos by Natacha Pisarenko Earth’s past, present and future come together here on the northern peninsula of Antarctica, the wildest, most desolate and mysterious of its continents.