Polar Bear Shaking Snow: First Place Winner of the Defenders of Wildlife Photo Contest 2011, this polar bear shakes off snow after a long back rub. it is usually predictable they will do this. However they do it on their own schedule, in this case in blowing snow at -20. Shot several, got one. Lucky.

Sometimes it makes more sense to fly around to find where the bears are - especially with such fewer numbers than when i first traveled here.. One basically hangs out of the open door of a Bell and uses very fast shutter speeds, and gets very cold.

This is 500 miles from the north pole in July. The bay should be frozen allowing the bear to hunt ringed seals. It is not. Global warming affects whether these animals will be visible anywhere in the next 30 years. Curiously, we were positioned for this shoot with a guide in a zodiac. The bear immediately (after the motor drive took about 4 shots) started for us, only out of curiosity. Curiosity is an evolutionary trait that succeeds because bears find stuff to eat when they are curious. Picture: sputtering non-starting 2-stroke (been giving problems the whole way), guide muttering various colorful words of encouragement - all a part of the experience of traveling in remote places. The engine did start, we got marvelous head shots as the bear swam toward us. No one panicked. Rubber ducky not popped. Lived to tell the story over drinks.. We saw several drowned bears who were exhausted from not being able to haul out onto ice.

This shot caught the interest of a travel publication in the UK and they purchased a license for a time to use it in the article. The red 'dye' is actually based on the iron particles their face comes in contact with on the ocean floor while feeding, and that is what sold the shot.