BEHIND THE SCENE

Just one day before I captured this image, high temperatures and heavy rain threw my entire expedition into doubt, due to the instability of the pack ice.
Luckily, during the night, temperatures dropped below freezing and our helicopter pilots were given the green light to take off the following morning.

I have to admit I was a bit scared to walk on the pack ice with all that expensive photo gear around my neck. With each step, every crack in the ice made me stop, look around and listen. I forgot all about that, though, when I found this beautiful pup on a freshly frozen shining puddle created by the previous day’s rain. I took my time. The thin layer of ice could crack under my weight while I was walking. In order to not break the beautiful ice patterns or scare the seal, I lied down on my stomach and gently crawled toward the pup to capture this image.

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