Monday, March 5, 2012

Polar Bears, Day Four…

Well...the sun came out and momma polar bear didn't move. She gave us one glance and apparently the polar bear cub gave a three second appearance. It just showed an eye and forehead.

Cold and sunny. Great photography conditions. Once again, pictures of polar bear eyes and a nose.

It is amazing the conversations that come up when a small group of nature photographers are together for a long period of time. Today we spent a lot of the time in the van telling lies and bad stories. No good polar bear pictures, but we made the best of it anyway. I never paid attention to the temperature today and although I wasn't outside very long, I was outside long enough for my fingers and toes to still be burning four hours after we got back to the lodge. My toes are still burning.

Next to poor polar bear sightings this year, the most painful thing about the cold is when you need to go to the bathroom when it is in the -40's. You have to stay hydrated or you'll get sick. That means you have to go to the bathroom in the -40's with a biting wind. The wind is so biting and painful that when it hits the unprotected areas of your face, it is quite painful. It is especially painful on those sensitive areas that you need to expose when you need to relieve yourself. So, the question is, do you go several times for shorter periods? or do you save it all up until you are dancing and just go once? At the risk of frosty burning privates, I choose several short bathroom breaks. Sounds like a stupid thing to think about, but seriously a person has to be careful. -40--50 degrees celcius with a strong wind feels like you are  being sand blasted!

Hopefully we will trade in our lies and bad stories for pictures of polar bears and babies tomorrow

No comments:

Post a Comment