Photo Insight
Jessica Miller finds out more about the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice winner
More than 50,000 images were entered into the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition last year and of these, 25 were shortlisted by the judges for the People’s Choice Award – decided by a public vote. After a record number of votes (over 75,000 people worldwide voted) British amateur photographer Nima Sarikhani came out on top.
Nima had gone on a two-week-long expedition in the search for polar bears in the far north off Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. Only met by thick fog in the first three days, the expedition vessel changed course. Perhaps a disheartening moment on board having spent three days seeing nothing but fog in front of you, but as the vessel turned and headed to the southeast, they made a promising discovery of more sea ice.
This is where Nima and the rest of the vessel encountered two polar bears, a younger and an older male, among the drift ice. Polar bears need drift ice to hunt seals, and Nima noted there was minimal ice around. Excess stress from swimming makes the bears liable to weaknesses and illness.
Around eight hours were spent with the bear, which Nima described as ‘magical’. Likely already exhausted from swimming and finding his rest spot, just before midnight the young male clambered onto a small iceberg. He clawed away at the iceberg to carve out a bed for himself before drifting off to sleep.
Nima captured this peaceful and tranquil moment against the stunning pink and blue sky. A dreamy image that, while beautiful, has a twofold meaning and acts as a bleak reminder of habitat loss and surv
