Okay I've been going flat-out on processing my photos today, and have five favourites to show right now:

"The Stare-down"


The big fight:


Mom & Cub


Arctic Fox, trying to sleep


Mom & cubs, distracted by a fox


I used my 500 mm f/4 lens, and my 70-200 f/2.8 for virtually all my photos. No extender was needed... the animals came plenty close. I had to dial in exposure compensation of plus 1-1/3 stops, to get the histogram far enough to the right side. There was enough light during the day that I normally didn't go beyond ISO 800 and still got very good shutter speeds.

The camp I stayed at is about 100 miles north of Churchill Manitoba. It is surrounded by an electric fence, which allowed for ground-level shooting of the wildlife. This is a huge advantage, compared to the 'regular' way of photographing polar bears from the tundra buggies where you are sitting quite high. Plus there was plenty of room to walk around and get the best angles. The bears migrate north along the shore of Hudson Bay until they find ice, and then they walk out to start their seal hunting. So this is a perfect time of year to see them. If you'd like to find out more about going to this area for polar bear photography, please let me know! It is also a great place for aurora photography, except for the fact that the sky was socked in the whole time I was there, and I forgot my cloud filter at home . However it meant I could at least get some sleep at night after full days of shooting.