McDonald - Polar bears in the wild: a visual essay of an endangered species

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CONTENTS

Photo Richard Day

Table of Contents

Joe and Mary Ann McDonald are professional wildlife photographers with a special interest in Polar Bears and Big Cats. Joe is the author of eleven books on wildlife or wildlife photography, and Mary Ann is the author of twenty-nine childrens books.

Joe and Mary spend over half the year in the field photographing, leading photo safaris, and conducting tours to worldwide destinations that typically include five continents. They currently reside in McClure, PA. Learn more at www.hoothollow.com.

The author, Joe McDonald, on a Zodiac in Svalbard, patiently waiting for some Atlantic Walruses to wake up.

Joe and Mary Ann McDonald have made numerous trips to the Arctic, for Polar Bears and other wildlife. They lead photo tours to Svalbard and to more temperate areas around the globe.

As a photographer and writer, I was faced with the sobering reality that my wife, Mary Ann, and I simply did not have the diversity of Polar Bear photographs to adequately tell this bears wonderful story. Fortunately, we have friends who are talented amateur photographers, ecotourist guides, and professional photographers who, like us, lead tours to Polar Bear country. All were happy to help, and their contributions to this book were invaluable and helped to make this one of the most diverse collections of Polar Bear photographs ever published.

I must thank my two great friends, Tom Wester and Steve Metildi, who immediately came on board and offered their images, which include Toms Kermode Bear, a bear Ive not seen in the wild, and Steves diverse images from Churchill.

Katherine Pierces credit, Katherine Pierce/CureUs Designs, tells it all, as profits from the sales of her images are donated to the American Cancer Society. On one of our photo tours, Kathy showed a few of her incredible mom-and-cub photos from Wapsuk National Park, and Im glad I remembered her doing so. Shes spent more time there than anyone else I know and has the images to prove it!

My friend and our expedition leader for our Svalbard Polar Bear trips, Adam Rheborg, has been leading ecotourists and photographers to Svalbard and other Arctic destinations for over twenty years. As a guide, his focus is on his people, not his photography, but nevertheless, Adam has amassed an incredible collection of images, depicting behavior Im still dying to see.

Years ago, Mary and I met a Denali guide and photographer, Hugh Rose, who later started his own company and now leads photo tours to the northern coast of Alaska and elsewhere. When I thought about getting complete coverage, I thought of Hugh, for his shots of bears on whales and his low-light, ground-level shots. Hughs incredible images of bears from this less well-known photography destination are superb.

Richard Day, a good friend and fellow photo tour leader, supplied more images from Churchill. Richard led photo tours to Churchill for over a decade and has perhaps the best coverage of Churchills bears and wildlife.

I was also very fortunate to have two other good friends, Sue Altenburg and Ivan Rothman, show portfolios on one of our tours that included their Polar Bears photos. Had that not happened, Id have missed some great images included here.

Although I relied on a diverse number of books and resources in writing this book, I must thank Morten Jrgensen for really opening my eyes to the hunting and research issues involved with Polar Bear management in the far north. Id strongly recommend Mortens book, Polar Bears on the Edge (NHBS, 2015), for anyone concerned about bears, and their potential mismanagement.

Id also like to thank Joe Johnson and his staff at Really Right Stuff, Clay Wimberley from Wimberley Tripod Heads, Lou Schmidt from Hoodman, and Chris Breeze from BreezeBrowser for all their help and support.

Last but certainly not least, I have to give the most credit to my wife, Mary Ann, who does most of the work in putting our photo tours together, does the tours and photographs, too, and helped me put together this book.

WEBSITES

hughrosephotography.com

daybreakimagery.photoshelter.com

cureusdesigns.com

stevemetildi.com

reallyrightstuff.com

tripodhead.com

breezebrowser.com

hoothollow.com

polar-quest.com

S tanding on the deck of the small ship, the M/S Stockholm, I scanned a landscape of frightening monotony, a crumpled blanket of snow and ice extending left and right and onto the horizon, under a canopy of a brilliant blue and cloudless sky. No living thing was in sight, no bird flew overhead, no dark, comma-shaped dots signifying the presence of a hauled-out seal, nothing but the cold, corrugated surface of unending ice fields. How could anything live in this landscape, let alone the largest terrestrial predator on earth? Experiencing the environment of the ice bear, the Polar Bear, first hand, infused in me an even greater appreciation for this magnificent predator, this, the king of the Arctic landscape.