In 2008, photographer Santiago Vanegas traveled to Antarctica aboard a Quark Expeditions vessel and saw a still, brooding land that most humans never will see firsthand. He writes about it below:

I returned from Antarctica in January of 2009, and I still can’t fathom that I was there. It’s like going to another planet. Not that I’ve been to another planet, but I can imagine that this is the closest I’ll ever be to one. Ironically, being in Antarctica has probably been the closest I’ve felt to Earth. The experience of being there has generated a series of extreme opposing images. The image of extreme scale. Extremely large landscape, tiny human. The towering human threat to nature, the delicate and vulnerable polar (global) ecology. The unforgiving Drake Passage crossing, our 240-foot ship at the mercy of 30- to 50-foot waves. Life, death. The list goes on. It’s humbling.

People ask me, “Why go to Antarctica?”

There are many reasons, some of which I have yet to discover. I wanted to go to Antarctica because very soon it will be a very different place. As we speak, ice shelves the size of entire countries are breaking off the continent and melting into the ocean. Antarctica is dying. Twiddling my thumbs is not an option. I had to go, absorb and tell a story. The magnificence of Antarctica. Such an unlikely and complex place to visit. I just couldn’t pass on the opportunity to visit another planet.

I guess you could say that my reasons for going are Death and Beauty.

100 percent of sales from the photographs on display at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport will go to nongovernment organizations with the mandate to protect the Arctic and Antarctic environments. The exhibit photographs will ship upon conclusion of the exhibit in March 2012. For more information, go to web.mac.com/sanvandur.

Presented by the Airport Art Program, a thoughtful and engaging exhibit on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. can be found on the Boarding Level of Concourse E. The exhibit is filled with outstanding photographs and artifacts from this remarkable man giving passengers a glimpse into his life. Viewers will see the suit Dr. King wore when meeting with President Lyndon Johnson, a radio he used to listen to news reports while on freedom walks and the robe he wore to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. The exhibit is on long-term loan from the King Center and is scheduled for a major expansion and renovation, so keep checking back for updates.

Visit http://www.thekingcenter.org for more information about the King Center.

Next time you find yourself in the Main Terminal Atrium at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, you may notice a 10 feet tall and 31 feet long friend from China smiling down at you. It is the dinosaur, Yangchuanosaurus! On temporary loan from Atlanta's Fernbank Museum this huge predator from the late Jurassic period was installed in the Atrium to highlight the museum's world class collection of dinosaurs and bring a little taste of natural history to Airport visitors. Children as well as adults are invited to learn a little more about this amazing carnivore as well as the history of dinosaurs.

For more on the Fernbank Museum of Natural History go to http://www.fernbank.edu.

Three display cases located on the South Terminal feature hand-carved models of World War II aircraft created by Holice McAvoy. McAvoy was a craftsman from Washington, Georgia who devoted much of his life to designing and constructing airplane models. Here you'll find a sampling of the 42 in his collection. Each painstakingly rendered piece represents a significant aircraft from World War II at exactly one thirtieth the actual size of the plane. Using glued-up blocks of high-quality pine to carve the airplanes, McAvoy also cast plastic to create the windscreens and gun turrets. He then delicately painted the parts to capture realistic details. Each model aircraft is tied to a specific event from the War; paratroopers really jumped from a C-47 over France. The Douglas SBD-3 'Dauntless' was used by J.A. Leppla at the Battle of Coral Sea in May, 1942. Passengers will be delighted to see the elegance and care with which these planes were created.

Accompanying the model airplanes is an incredible collection of World War II "sweetheart jewelry" from the National Museum of Patriotism. The creation of sweetheart jewelry is a tradition that allows those left behind on the Home Front to honor loved ones away at war. During World War II people made pins, bracelets, buttons, and other trinkets to show their dedication to the soldiers closest to their hearts as well as their patriotism.

The Museum of Patriotism was founded by Atlanta resident Nicholas Snider and is located at 275 Baker Street. Visit http://www.museumofpatriotism.org for more information about the Museum of Patriotism.