Robert F. Scott was a brave fool. He was ill prepared and it resulted in the death of him and his men. Although overconfident and naïve, he was nonetheless courageous. But as Sir Edmund Hillary famously replied when asked if George Mallory was actually the first to reach the top of Everest, “Victory is only achieved if you return alive.” To be clear, Scott did reach the South Pole but he was beaten to it by Roald Amundsen and then perished on the return trip, a victim of poor planning and worse weather.

Amundsen on the other hand sought advice from native arctic peoples and applied it to his transportation methods, provisions and particularly clothing. These critical differences, not to mention his own foresight in selecting the route, resulted in total victory for him and his team.

Why, then, is Scott so glorified and romanticized? Is it because of all the pre-expedition media attention and the fact that Britain still ruled most the world at the time? Or is it because of his eloquent and tragic journal, or all the beautiful photographs retrieved from the dead men’s camera that were only “discovered” a few years ago?

Whatever the reason, Scott has been receiving a lot of attention lately now that this year marks the centennial of his fatal journey. Publisher Assouline released a gorgeous book called South Pole featuring the expedition’s haunting and beautiful pictures. Esquire heralded the London tailor (still in business) of Scott’s naval uniform, and newspapers and blogs like The Telegraph and A Continuous Lean have written about the expedition in general, to name just a few. Now there’s a photographic book called Still Life showing the untouched “frozen in time” shelters used by Scott (and Shackleton) 100 years ago still stocked with provisions of every kind, that’s both beautiful and eery.

Regardless of the outcome or the sudden attention to Scott’s doomed Terra Nova Expedition, the photographs from and about it are fascinating, even inspiring, and definitely worth a look. Click images to enlarge.