Paul Nicklen

One of ILCP’s most well known members, Paul Nicklen has been feautured in many major publications. Currently working as a freelance photographer, he has done at least nine stories for National Geographic magazine. After studying marine biology at the University of Victoria, BC, Nicklen became a wildlife biologist within the Northwest Territories of Canada. His interest in the wildlife of this region (including lynx, polar bear, grizzly bear, bison, caribou) was instilled in him since childhood: Growing up within a small Inuit community in Canada’s arctic, he was taught how to hunt and navigate the land. "We didn't have a television...telephone...radio...so all of my entertainment came in the form of playing outside, and that meant being around animals...seeing my first polar bear when I was five years old."
"…You really learn from the time you are young how these animals work, what makes them tick. You learn about social hierarchy, and then most of all, the best thing you learn is their connection to the ecosystem.” -Nicklen
His pastime of observing the native wildlife has since grown into a full-blown passion. After working as a biologist in the field, Nicklen came to the realization that he could make a greater impact and perform a greater service to the animals he worked with by photographing them. Since 1995, Nicklen has specialized in photographing Arctic wildlife as a nature and wildlife photojournalist. Many of his better known and more widely published images are underwater shots, including his notorious leopard seal photographs.

“If I really want people to care about polar species, my images have to be wild and raw," Nicklen writes. "I want people to feel what it's like to be in the water, swimming three feet from a polar bear. I want them to experience what it's like to be offered a penguin as food by a leopard seal. Only then will they really care about that habitat and that species."

-Kat