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Polar Obsession: Photography by Paul Nicklen

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Photo: A gentoo penguin peeks below the waves.
A gentoo penguin chick peeks, checking for leopard seals before tempting fate.

Photo by Paul Nicklen

Photo: A threat display from a female leopard seal

An intense threat display from a female leopard seal. Anvers Island, Antarctica

Photo by Paul Nicklen

“To approach animals in their most natural, native settings, I have to understand the mysteries of their behavior. With careful preparation, I can show the animal in its best light, demonstrating its beauty, strength, and intelligence.” – Paul Nicklen

At the age of four, Paul Nicklen moved with his family to Baffin Island in the far Canadian North and so began a lifelong relationship with the vast Arctic landscape and its creatures. During a stint as a wildlife biologist studying polar bears, grizzlies, and lynx, Nicklen grew impatient with data gathering. He resigned his job, gathered a camera, a backpack, and an inflatable canoe, and set out on a three-month solo expedition in the high Arctic to pursue his dream of being a wildlife photographer.

Since then he has published dozens of articles about the Polar region, including several for National Geographic. Nicklen’s photography of icy landscapes, polar bears, walrus, leopard seals, penguins, and more, illustrates both his passion for the environment and a deep commitment to conservation. As the Earth’s warming trend threatens the ice upon which the Arctic and Antarctic ecosystems depend, Nicklen urgently hopes his skills as a wildlife photojournalist will inspire stewardship of the rare, remote, and threatened at the Earth’s extremes.

In November 2009, National Geographic will release a book of his work at both poles, Polar Obsession.

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