There are moments on our trips that can’t be shared with words alone, the sound of an orca’s breath breaking the surface, the laughter of our team on a long travel day, the quiet stillness after a storm.

The idea for The Wild Minute was born out of that space between still photos and full trip reports.

I wanted a place to share the heartbeat of what we experience out there.

They will be short, one-minute video stories from the field, raw, unfiltered, and real.

Some will be encounters with wildlife. Others are travel days, reflections, or simple slices of life between the big moments.

For years, our written blogs and daily trip reports have told the stories behind the images.

Now, The Wild Minute adds another way to share the sounds, movement, and the pulse of being there.

My hope is that it helps you feel a little closer to these places and the incredible animals that call them home.

A sample of what The Wild Minute will look and feel like.

Each clip will live on our website, connected to the stories and expeditions they came from.

So whether you prefer reading the trip reports, watching the moments unfold, or both, you can follow the journey in real time, one minute at a time. I am keeping them short so they don’t eat up too much of your time.

Our next adventure takes us north, to Churchill, Canada, where polar bears roam the edge of Hudson Bay.

That’s where Wild Minute will begin. The journey starts November 2, and so will the stories.

We’ll continue sharing our written trip reports and photos from the field, but now they’ll be complimented by short, one-minute video stories that I hope will bring you even closer to the experience.

You’ll still get the trip reports, because I love writing, but now you’ll also feel the emotion, the sound, and the pulse of the adventures as it happens.

Follow The Series

Churchill, Canada, is often referred to as the "Polar Bear Capital of the World," and for a good reason. The bear activity here is absolutely EPIC!

With its breathtaking landscapes and opportunities for up-close encounters with amazing animals, it’s a dream destination for any wildlife photographer.

I had the privilege of spending the past two winter seasons on the tundra, capturing these iconic animals in their natural, snowy environment.

Churchill’s landscape is like something from another world. Endless stretches of snow and ice create a stunning white canvas, interrupted only by the occasional patch of frozen tundra, and boulders that pepper the landscape.

The light changes throughout the day. Most of the time it is amazing with a lot of sun, other times the cloud cover will darken it all. But those cloud covered days do help soften that harsh afternoon light, which allows us to shoot throughout the day.

Mornings are epic, with the golden hues of dawn casting a magical glow over the snow, creating perfect conditions for photography.

Winter is truly an epic time to be out here. It is beautiful, and romantic, and dramatic, and on and on and on… but damn it is COLD!!!

It can be so cold, that my fingers can only hold the camera for short spurts before I have to cover them up, because they hurt so bad.

Some days the conditions are just perfect, and you can shoot all day outside, but other days, man the air is sharp as daggers, and you have to seek shelter from it, because it hurts.

Being out here, you can’t help but feel a deep respect for the creatures that are so perfectly adapted to thrive in this unforgiving environment.

The real thrill of this adventure is being on the ground, capturing polar bears up close. We used vans that are tough and built for this weather and terrain, allowing us to get close to the bears without compromising our safety or theirs.

There’s something incredibly personal about being at ground level with these iconic predators. You feel their presence, and the sheer wildness of these guys.

They have these massive Tundra Buggies in Churchill, which are cool, but I have never been a fan of shooting from a raised platform or a distance. I prefer ground shooting… just love to get close.

Photographing polar bears from the ground is exhilarating, but it’s not without its risks.

I admit, you are never really safe anywhere you go on the Tundra. The bears keep you wary and always looking over your shoulder. Of course this is why we always have a bear guard with us at all times, when we are out there.

Their presence allowed us to focus on capturing the bears without that added worry of danger.

But I admit I love that feeling of knowing we are out in a raw and wild place where you are never truly safe. There are not many places left in the world that are still truly wild… Churchill is one of those places.

And maybe that’s why this experience means so much to me. It’s not just about the photos—it’s about feeling alive in a place where nature is still in control.

Churchill reminds me that there are places where we’re just visitors, and for me, that’s where the magic happens.

Shooting in Churchill’s snowy conditions presented some unique challenges. The bright, white snow can easily fool a camera’s light meter, leading to overexposed images.

Here are the settings I used to get the best results:

Exposure Compensation: I found that dialing in +1 to +1.5 exposure compensation helped prevent the camera from underexposing the scene. The snow tends to trick the meter into thinking it’s brighter than it is, so adding some exposure brings back the true detail.
ISO: The light was often low, especially during dawn and dusk, so I used an ISO range of 400 to 800 to maintain a fast enough shutter speed while keeping noise at a manageable level.
Shutter Speed: To freeze the action of a moving bear, I kept my shutter speed at 1/1000s or faster. When the bears were resting, I could drop it to 1/800s, but with these active animals, faster is generally better.
Aperture: I shot with a fairly wide aperture, around f/4 to f/5.6, to create a shallow depth of field that allowed me to separate the bear from the background while keeping enough of the animal in focus.
White Balance: I set my white balance manually to "Cloudy" or "Shade" to add warmth to the scene and counteract the blue tones that can dominate snowy environments.
Focusing Mode: I used continuous autofocus (AI Servo) to track the bears as they moved. These animals can be unpredictable, and having the camera continuously adjust the focus was essential for getting sharp images.

🎥 Introducing The Wild Minute… The Wild in Motion

Photographing Polar Bears in the Snow!!!