The changing face of exploration

Pen Hadow training for his North Pole solo expedition, Resolute Bay 2003 Photograph: Martin Hartley/Face to Face: Polar Portraits

Photographer Martin Hartley on the frozen ocean, Adventure Ecology Trans Arctic Expedition 2006. "Being a photographer in the polar environment demands that you have to endure the usual levels of discomfort with relative ease if you wish to free up some mental space for creative decisions" Photograph: Martin Hartley/Face to Face: Polar Portraits

"Emperor and mule", a photograph by Frank Debenham, 1911 Photograph: Scott Polar Research Institute/Face to Face: Polar Portraits

Woman walking across the main square in Khatanga, Northern Siberia, 2004 Photograph: Martin Hartley/Face to Face: Polar Portraits

Shackleton's Nimrod expedition in 1907-09 was the first ever to take a motor car to the Antarctic "with which he hopes to reach his goal and hoist the Union Jack" Photograph: Scott Polar Research Institute/Face to Face: Polar Portraits

Quentin Riley, meteorologist on the British Arctic Air Route expedition, 1930-31 Photograph: Scott Polar Research Institute/Face to Face: Polar Portraits

Ben Saunders testing equipment in Resolute Bay, 2008. Described as "the next Sir Ranulph Fiennes", Saunders is one of only four in history who have skied solo to the North Pole (2004) and, at 26, he was the youngest Photograph: Martin Hartley/Face to Face: Polar Portraits

Sir Ernest Shackleton, South Atlantic, 1908. Shackleton first visited Antarctica in 1901-04 with Scott and then led his own expeditions in 1907-09 when he came within 100 miles of the South Pole. In 1914 he led the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition - a pioneering voyage across the South Polar Continent from sea to sea, and an epic of survival Photograph: Scott Polar Research Institute/Face to Face: Polar Portraits

João Rodrigues, Ellesmere Island, 2007. A research associate at Cambridge University, Rodrigues is currently building the scientific team to make best use of ice thickness data obtained by Pen Hadow on his Arctic Ocean expedition next year. This picture was taken outside the Eureka Weather Station when Rodrigues had been calibrating an ice-penetrating radar in temperatures of -40C Photograph: Martin Hartley/Face to Face: Polar Portraits

Frank Wild, Weddell Sea, 1915. A significant figure in Antarctic exploration, Wild was a member of Scott's first expedition to the Antarctic and four expeditions with Shackleton Photograph: Scott Polar Research Institute/Face to Face: Polar Portraits

Modern polar travellers Patric Woodhead, Alastair Vere Nicholl and Paul Landry, Antarctica 2004 Photograph: Martin Hartley/Face to Face: Polar Portraits

Polar veteran Sir Vivian Fuchs, Scott Base, Antarctica, 1958. Fuchs is just about to take a bath - his first for three months - having just completed an epic 2,000-mile crossing of Antarctica Photograph: Scott Polar Research Institute/Face to Face: Polar Portraits

Inuit girl, Gjoa Haven, King William Island, 2003. The photograph was taken during the Hamlet Day Celebrations, a national holiday, when the whole village takes part in an Inuit version of the Winter Olympics, including snowmobile races Photograph: Martin Hartley/Face to Face: Polar Portraits

Robert Scott, George Simpson, Henry Bowers and Teddy Evans leaving on "a remarkably pleasant and instructive little spring journey" to the Western Mountains on September 15 1911 during the Terra Nova Expedition Photograph: Scott Polar Research Institute/Face to Face: Polar Portraits

Small man, large iceberg, Qikiqtarjuaq, 2004 Photograph: Martin Hartley/Face to Face: Polar Portraits

Sir Wally Herbert, Scottish Highlands, 2006. Herbert, who died in 2007, was Britain's preeminent polar traveller and the last of the great pioneers. He made history in 1968-9, when he became the first man to reach the North Pole on foot and then continued to complete the first traverse of the Arctic Ocean when he reached Spitsbergen Photograph: Face to Face: Polar Portraits

Pan hopping in Lake Fjord, second British Arctic Air Route expedition 1932-33 Photograph: Scott Polar Research Institute/Face to Face: Polar Portraits

British adventure athlete Rosie Stancer in Resolute Bay, 2007 Photograph: Martin Hartley/Face to Face: Polar Portraits

The photographer Herbert Ponting posing for a polar portrait in Antarctica, January 1912. He provided his own caption: "Ponting cooling his head" Photograph: Scott Polar Research Institute

Terra Nova framed in the distance from within a cavern in a stranded iceberg, taken by Herbert Ponting in 1911 on Scott's fateful British Antarctic Expedition

Face To Face: Polar Portraits by By Huw Lewis-Jones is published by Scott Polar Research Institute at £25. Further details at polarfacebook.com Photograph: Scott Polar Research Institute