Smithsonian magazine's 22nd Annual Photo Contest | Made possible through the support of MPB.com

18th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Watching, Polar bear on ice

As the ice rises on the swell and the Zodiak sinks into a trough, the bear on the ice seems to loom over the camera. Taken from a small Zodiak amongst ice floes in the Arctic ocean about 100 miles north of Spitzbergen. This bear still has a long swim further north to the edge of the polar pack ice during one of the worse summers recorded for arctic ice extent.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 08.2020
Date Uploaded: 11.2020
Photo Location: Svalbard and Jan Mayen
Camera: Canon EOS-1D X Mark III
Copyright: © Russell Millner