A Polar Bear Looks into a Camera
A photographer waited many hours for this picture.
A photographer from Norway took a photo of a polar bear.
His name is Audun Rikardsen. He put a camera under the ice, in a hole where seals come to breathe.
Then he waited. At 4 o'clock in the morning, a polar bear came and looked into the camera.
He waited eight more hours. Then he took the camera and looked at the photos. He was very happy.
The photo is now in a big competition. It is called Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
The winners will be announced on 13 October.
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Polar Bear Photo Shortlisted for Wildlife Photographer of the Year
A Norwegian photographer hid a camera under a seal's breathing hole and waited for a polar bear to look in.
A photo of a polar bear looking straight into a camera is one of the highly commended pictures in this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
The photographer, Audun Rikardsen from Norway, wanted to show what a seal sees. He put an underwater camera under a hole in the ice where seals come up to breathe. The camera had a motion sensor, so it took a photo when something moved.
At four o'clock in the morning, a female polar bear came to the hole and looked down. Rikardsen then had to wait eight hours for the bear to leave before he could get his camera back.
He said he was so happy when he saw the photo that he screamed, and he probably woke up all the polar bears for miles.
Rikardsen has won two categories of the competition before. The overall winners for 2026 will be announced on 13 October, and the photos will be shown at the Natural History Museum in London.
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Polar Bear Peering into an Ice Hole Among Wildlife Photographer of the Year Highlights
Norwegian photographer Audun Rikardsen captured the Arctic predator from a seal's point of view using a hidden underwater camera.
A photograph of a female polar bear peering down through a hole in the Arctic ice has been highly commended in the 2026 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, one of the most prestigious awards in nature photography.
The image, titled Icy Window, was taken by Norwegian photographer Audun Rikardsen while he was working as a guide in the Arctic. To capture the scene from a seal's point of view, he rigged an underwater camera with a motion sensor beneath a breathing hole that seals use, and then waited.
At 4am a polar bear approached the hole and looked in, triggering the camera. Rikardsen then had to wait a further eight hours for the bear to move away before he could safely retrieve the equipment and check the pictures. "I was so extremely happy," he said. "I was screaming, so I probably woke up all the polar bears for miles."
Rikardsen is no stranger to the competition: he has previously won the Birds category in 2019 and the Oceans category in 2025. Other highly commended images announced this week include swifts flying over London, a toad crossing a city street in Japan and an orca carrying its dead calf through a Norwegian fjord.
The overall winners will be announced on 13 October, followed by an exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London opening on 16 October.
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