Texas State Aquarium Presents National Geographic Photographer’s “Polar Obsession”
February 25, 2019
Compelling Images of Polar Wildlife from Lens of Photojournalist Paul Nicklen
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX — “Polar Obsession,” a photography exhibition featuring striking images of the world’s polar regions from National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen is now on display at the Texas State Aquarium. The images take visitors underwater and across the ice, delivering a unique close-up of wildlife in the Arctic and Antarctic.
Nicklen, who regards himself as an ambassador for polar life, grew up in a small Inuit community in the Canadian Arctic. From an early age he learned how to survive in the frozen terrain and developed a passion for the wildlife around him. Today, his expeditions take him to the ends of the Earth in pursuit of rare, close-up photographs of polar species, their intriguing ways and their environs. Constantly honing his understanding of wildlife behavior in order to approach the animals in their most intimate natural settings, Nicklen uses photography to dispel myths, reveal rarely seen behaviors and intensify the world’s interest in the entire polar ecosystem.
The exhibition is drawn from Nicklen’s National Geographic book “Polar Obsession,” which showcases important insights into animal behavior, the fragile polar environment and climate change that threatens the ice and its inhabitants.
“Polar Obsession” includes 57 of the 150 images from the book, which features Nicklen’s most spectacular images from the polar reaches. From huge elephant seals, leopard seals, whales, walruses, narwhals and polar bears to penguins, albatrosses, petrels, arctic cod and tiny krill, Nicklen, an underwater photography specialist, captures the beauty of a wide variety of polar animals, large and small, and the icy paradise in which they live. Each scene is bathed in polar light, surreal and breathtakingly beautiful.
“The polar regions are disappearing quickly, and I want my photo essays to stand as a reminder of what is at stake. It is my mission to bring the rare, remote and threatened to caring people who can enjoy and help protect these lands and creatures,” Nicklen writes in his book introduction.
“Polar Obsession” will be on exhibit until Sept. 3 at the Texas State Aquarium and access in included with admission or membership.
Photos related to “Polar Obsession”
[Please credit any use of photos referencing “Polar_Obsession_Caption_Sheet]