Our quest for Polar bears took us through dramatic landscapes and sea conditions. Nearing the end of the day we encountered a period of complete calm which translated to a mirror sea punctuated only by ice bergs, floes and birds with the occasional inhabited floe. Moving silently through this almost imperceptible plane between sea and sky reminded me of glorious evening in the Antarctic. The difference being that this time we were well above the polar circle so no sunset to bring the warm colours.

Moody sky and blues accentuate the memory of the cold. Our silent, smooth, electrically powered vessel was ideally suited to this still environment. The only sounds being the occasional scrape of a floe or the call of flying Red-necked Divers overhead.

Our slow progression resulted in and endless changing background and the continual passing of birds gave subjects in every direction.

Tracking a subject across the changing background allowed an continual variety of options and required multiple exposures to try and capture subject separation and wing position choices.

One of the floes we passed close to was the resting place of a bearded seal who glanced up at us. They forage on the iron-rich seabed and get rust-stained faces as a result. The continually changing background reflected in the calm sea allowed me to wait to catch the seal in a dark patch surrounded by a pale frame.

Photos with Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 800mm f6.3 VR S apart from Arctic landscapes with floes with Nikon Z8 and Nikkor Z 14-30mm f4 S