Polar Photographer Paul Nicklen On Chasing Narwhal and Swimming With Leopard Seals
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Courtesy Paul Nicklen/National Geographic CreativeIt's rare that a nature shoot goes viral, but before Planet Earth II's snake-versus-iguana showdown took the Internet by storm, there was Nicklen's encounter with a female leopard seal in Antarctica. While on a 2006 National Geographic magazine shoot, he was following a group of leopard seals when one female took particular interest in him. After sizing Nicklen up—by putting its giant jaws around his head and then his camera—the leopard seal's maternal instincts kicked in, seemingly seeing Nicklen as something needing help, rather than her next meal. Over the course of four days, she brought him penguins—first alive and then dead—visibly puzzled by Nicklen's inability and unwillingness to hunt for himself. Of photos like this one that hit home and spread like wildfire even years later (the photos and accompanying story went viral a full seven years after the shoot, after it started recirculating on social media sites), Nicklen says he knows almost immediately when he's struck gold. "When I get that moment, when I take that photograph, I can feel it in my gut," he says. "And sure enough, those photos have the highest engagement."
Courtesy Paul Nicklen/National Geographic CreativeWhile Nicklen started off as a biologist, he quickly discovered that he was able to make more of a difference in the field with a camera rather than in a lab. In his view, it comes down to how he sees the world and his inherent love for adventure and the extreme: "I think the reason I was such a terrible scientist is that I’m a squiggly, not a square," he says. But his talent for photography—the way he can inspire awe at the natural world with the click of a shutter—surely has something to do with it, too. "All I’m trying to do is create the emotional connection for what the scientists are trying to tell us," he says. Here, a pod of humpback whales breaches the ocean's surface. In his Instagram post, Nicklen cites the humpback whale, which is now on the rebound after a century of commercial whaling led the animal to be put on the endangered species list in 1970, as an example of what can happen when people rally behind an environmental cause.
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Courtesy Paul Nicklen/National Geographic CreativeNicklen's love for the frozen corners of our planet—and the animals who call them home—is rooted in his upbringing. Having grown up in a small Inuit community on Baffin Island, in Canada's northern reaches, he grew to love his environment—in large part because he was so connected to it. "I think for me it just worked its way deep in my heart. I liked the extremes. The weather, the wind, the cold, the conditions—seeing light playing a game with the shadows along the ice," he says. "When I was young, a day in class meant going out on the sea ice."
Courtesy Paul Nicklen/National Geographic CreativeWhen asked about particularly difficult shoots, Nicklen immediately recalls tracking down the elusive narwhal, the tusked whale known as the "unicorn of the seas," over the course of various shoots. Finding narwhal now is difficult, as they tend to avoid the shoreline, having learned that it's their best chance for survival in the face of a centuries-old Inuit hunting tradition. Nicklen had to struggle with both these challenges—the animal's elusiveness and the balance of conservation and culture—on a single shoot. To find the narwhal, he had to fly over the open ocean on an ultralight plane, which broke down mid-flight—he snapped photos all the way down, and waited with his team at an "ice camp" for a month until a replacement part arrived.
As if that wasn't enough, while photographing the narwhal, what he saw was "like a war zone." Many of the narwhal had bullet holes and scars on them, wounds from Inuit hunters. "They don’t see anything wrong with it," Nicklen says. "They are trying to survive in a very difficult society in the north." Nicklen turned the photoshoot into an undercover story about narwhal hunting, eventually contributing to a U.S. government decision to ban narwhal ivory. Somewhere over the course of the shoot, Nicklen dislocated a shoulder after falling through some ice. "Every time it started hurting and I winced, I would see nothing but narwhals and tusks, and I knew I had done what I wanted to do," he says.
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Courtesy Paul Nicklen/National Geographic CreativeTravel's relationship with environmental conservation can be complicated. We have an urge to see the places that are disappearing, but at the same time, travel leaves a sizable carbon footprint behind. When asked about this, Nicklen admits he's "conflicted." "It's hard to get people to appreciate and love a place that they haven't seen before," he says. "When I see someone who is on a checklist adventure, it breaks my heart. But I also want to have people who want to see how climate change is affecting our world."
Nicklen also recognizes that his photos can bring people to out-of-reach places. "I really fight with my photography to make it emotional enough to transport people—to really make them feel like they’ve been there themselves," he says. And sometimes, a photo catches the attention of a VIP. This photo of ice waterfalls pouring off the long-frozen coast of Nordaustlandet in the Norwegian Svalbard archipelago, for example, prompted environmentalist and former U.S. vice-president Al Gore to reach out. Gore now regularly uses the image in his presentations on the effects of climate change around the world.
Courtesy Paul Nicklen/National Geographic CreativeCamping out in sub-zero conditions; donning a drysuit and dipping under ice floes; going cheek for jowl with some of the world's most dangerous predators: It's obviously not for everyone, but Nicklen's photography allows us to see part of our planet that, for most, largely remains out of sight. He wouldn't have it any other way. "If I’m shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of photographers in a warm place, I’m not being effective," he says. "If I’m alone and cold, feeling vulnerable, I know I’m making some change."