October 5, 2009
A Healthy (and Beautiful) Obsession
BY: Emily Fisher
It’s that time again: another cool National Geographic photography exhibit is in town. “Polar Obsession,” which will be at NatGeo until Valentine’s Day, is a showcase of photographer Paul Nicklen’s moving images from both ends of the Earth. (No relation to the other photog phenom I wrote about a while ago, Flip Nicklin).Nicklen has documented Arctic and Antarctic landscapes and wildlife including polar bears, walrus, leopard seals, penguins, and more. A former wildlife biologist, Nicklen hopes his photographs will inspire people to protect the creatures and places that are increasingly under threat from climate change. Just a few days ago, The New York Times reported that Pacific walruses are increasingly threatened by climate change. So threatened, in fact, that 131 of them were found dead in Alaska as a result of crowding and stampeded due to a lack of sea ice. Perhaps Nicklen’s gorgeous photos will move people to develop a polar obsession of their own.