Getting a camera eye-to-eye with a polar bear in the Arctic wilderness sounds like a wildlife photographer's dream. But Audun Rikardsen found a clever way to do it, placing his DSLR camera beneath the sea ice so that the animal could be photographed from a seal's perspective.
The result, Icy Window, shows a polar bear peering straight down through a breathing hole – and has now been highlighted in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
After spotting polar bear tracks close to a seal's breathing hole north of Svalbard, Norway, Rikardsen drilled one nearby and positioned a full-frame DSLR from 2012 with dedicated underwater housing and a wide-angle lens beneath the ice. He connected the setup to a motion sensor, enabling the camera to trigger when the animal approached.
Eight hours later, the Norwegian photographer finally got the shot he had been waiting for: a polar bear looking straight down into his lens as it searched for seals. Rikardsen's setup turned the animal's natural behavior into an extraordinary seal's-eye perspective, showing a unique view from below the ice.
Gear and exposure info
Technical details
Camera: Canon EOS 6D
Lens: Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM
Accesories: Underwater housing customized camera rig; Camtraptions motion sensor
Exposure
1/1250 sec, f/9, ISO800
Wildlife Photographer of the Year
With a record-breaking number of submissions, at over 65,000 images, the world's leading wildlife photography competition revealed a sneak peek of the exceptional photographs captured from around the world.
Now in its 62nd year, Wildlife Photographer of the Year – developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London – gives us rare insights into the remarkable inhabitants of our planet.
We've previously highlighted some of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year highly commended images; from an unlikely friendship to a leopard’s clumsy maneuver and more, you can discover the photos here.
The category winners and the prestigious Grand Title and Young Grand Title awards will be announced on October 13. You can watch the ceremony live on YouTube.
The full set of highlighted images will be showcased in an exhibition from October 16 at the Natural History Museum. Tickets are available here, priced £4.25 to £21 per person.
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