Paws for Thought
I have uploaded rather a lot of Polar Bear photo but I don't want to consign these to the bin as I am unlikely to get such photo-opportunities again. A number of people have alluded to the rule changes that come into force in in Svalbard in 2025 that will make photos like this very difficult. From March 1st until June 30th boats will not be permitted within 500m of a Polar Bear, though from July 1st until February 28th this distance drops to 300m. Polar Bears vary in their reaction to people and boats, but many are curious and will walk right up to a stationary boat in the pack ice. But the new rules say that boats should move away if Polar Bears approach to maintain the regulation distance.
We would not have approached this bear quite as close as this if we had spotted him earlier. But we were in a Zodiac cruising the coast and as we turned a blind rocky headland there he was, right in front of us. We did move back to a safer distance but initially I could not get the entire animal in frame. Needless to say, I was not operating the Zodiac. I was just seizing the opportunity to take close photographs. For the record I had 700mm on a full frame camera (500mm with 1.4x converter) and this was slightly cropped to centre it. It was taken on the east coast of the island of Spitsbergen at Bjornsund.
Paws for Thought
I have uploaded rather a lot of Polar Bear photo but I don't want to consign these to the bin as I am unlikely to get such photo-opportunities again. A number of people have alluded to the rule changes that come into force in in Svalbard in 2025 that will make photos like this very difficult. From March 1st until June 30th boats will not be permitted within 500m of a Polar Bear, though from July 1st until February 28th this distance drops to 300m. Polar Bears vary in their reaction to people and boats, but many are curious and will walk right up to a stationary boat in the pack ice. But the new rules say that boats should move away if Polar Bears approach to maintain the regulation distance.
We would not have approached this bear quite as close as this if we had spotted him earlier. But we were in a Zodiac cruising the coast and as we turned a blind rocky headland there he was, right in front of us. We did move back to a safer distance but initially I could not get the entire animal in frame. Needless to say, I was not operating the Zodiac. I was just seizing the opportunity to take close photographs. For the record I had 700mm on a full frame camera (500mm with 1.4x converter) and this was slightly cropped to centre it. It was taken on the east coast of the island of Spitsbergen at Bjornsund.