Saturday, February 26, 2011

International Polar Bear Day

FEBRUARY 27TH, 2011 is International Polar Bear Day!

To honor the International Polar Bear Day, I put together some of my favorite Polar Bear photographs.

Friends are repeatedly asking me why I'm going to photograph the polar bears again and again. It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't experienced the closeness to these giant bears, and what it is about.
The easiest way to watch the bears is to visit Churchill in October/November, when the polar bears come together to wait for the ice on the Hudson Bay to form. Enormous Tundra Buggies bring you safely out on the frozen tundra.
To photograph the female bears coming out of their dens with the cubs, you have to travel about two days (coming from California), and you are exposed to extreme temperature, up to -30 degrees Fahrenheit. You wait long days in front of a den, and stay in a remote lodge without running water. But it is well worth it!
The only place I know of where you can do this is the Watchee lodge of Churchill. Although this lodge is remote, they know how to spoil you with comfort and unbelievable good food. The owners, Michael and Morris Spence, as well as a staff of knowledgeable guides make the stay perfect. But all this fades into the background when you are eye to eye with a mother bears and her cubs!
I hope these images will inspire you to think and act upon climate change.

To help the Polar Bears directly, please check out the following links:

Polar Bears International

Defenders of Wildlife

WWF

To see more of my Polar Bear please feel free to check out my Photoshelter stock site.


Enjoy and Happy Polar Bear Day!





























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