These bears will melt your frozen heart

Vancouver photographer, Daisy Gilardini has one of those jobs that combines two incredibly exciting passions — wildlife conservation and photography. The job is gruelling and sometimes after spending hours doing a photoshoot in minus 50 degree celcius, you’ll be rewarded with images to melt your frozen heart…but not your toes.

Check out these photos and video Daisy shot last March in Wapusk National Park near Churchill, Manitoba with a group of about 20 photographers from National Geographic and the BBC among others.

Motherhood

This photo titled “Motherhood” of a mama polar bear and her babies looking deep into the camera lens makes you feel like she’s seeing right into your soul.

“Motherhood” is an award winning shot that’s currently featured at the Smithsonian after winning Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Awards Grand Prize. Daisy’s photos are on display at the Smithsonian until September 2017.

About the photo:

A mother polar bear is cuddling her two cubs while resting on a day den on the way to the pack ice to hunt for seals.
Every year from February to March an important event takes place in Wapusk National Park in Manitoba – Canada. Polar bears who entered maternity dens in October and gave birth in November are ready to exit for the first time with their four-month-old cubs. The timing coincides with seals giving birth to their pups on the Hudson Bay pack ice, which means easy food for the polar bears.

It is extremely rare to witness the exit of the bears from their dens and one has to face incredibly challenging conditions with temperatures dropping to -54 degrees Celsius and winds gusting up to 60 km/h.

All the efforts are however well rewarded when you get to experience such intimacy with the most iconic animal of the Arctic kingdom.

As conservation photographers it is our duty to capture the beauty of species at risk and raise awareness by giving a voice to creatures that cannot speak up.

While science provides the data necessary to explain issues and suggest solutions, photography symbolizes these issues. Science is the brain, while photography is the heart and we need to reach people’s heart and emotions in order to move them to action, for Nature and for us. ~ Daisy Gilardini

You can also vote for this adorable photo of one of those baby bears hitching a ride on it’s mama’s back for the People’s Choice Award in the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year. This exhibit comes to Victoria each year at the Royal BC Museum.

Mel Z – Midday Show 10am – 3pm

Filed under: Daisy Gilardini, motherhood, Nature's Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Awards Grand Prize., Photography, Polar Bears, Smithsonian, Vancouver Photographer, Wildlife Photography