“My favourite wild animal to see and photograph is the polar bear. Polar bears are a species I loved and admired from afar while I was growing up. As an adult and a photographer, my love and care deepened the first time I locked eyes with a bear in the High Arctic.

The mostly solitary life of a polar bear is not an easy one. The hardships they face as a result of climate change grow with each passing year. Spending time with them in the wild, my admiration for them was only reinforced. Charismatic, full of charm and character, they’re as close as a living breathing being can be to a real-life cartoon character.

However, the reality is that, as beautiful as they are, they’re a large apex predator who command a great deal of respect at all times.

With polar bears and their home facing immediate threats on the front lines of climate change, I want to utilize my skillset as a wildlife photographer to continue to share the wonderment, beauty and resilience of this amazing species with others. So many people, like me as a youth, love the polar bear but likely won’t have the opportunity to experience them first-hand due to the remoteness and vast expanse of the far North.

By helping to educate alongside my images, I want to showcase the beauty of polar bears and their Arctic Kingdom in the hope that it will prompt folks to help protect what they love, to be a voice for those who don’t have a voice.”

www.davesandfordphotos.com
www.instagram.com/davesandford

My Big 5

Polar bear
Grizzly Bear
Wolf
Snow Leopard
Lion