When you think of polar bears, the first thing you might imagine is a landscape of snow and ice. But cinematographer Martin Gregus has shared surprising footage of the bears lounging around in bright purple fireweed.
“I often get asked if my images are real; if the flowers are really that purple, if the bears are often that calm,” he says on Instagram.
Gregus first got the idea for the project when he visited the Arctic with his father and realised that “there is little to no documentation about what the bears do in the summer."
It took more than six years for him to raise enough funds to go on his first camping expedition in 2020. Since then, he has spent nearly 100 days living with them in the field.
It’s not without its challenges. "Getting to this location is pretty difficult as it is very remote,” he says. “It’s about two hours north of Churchill, Manitoba, by boat and has only been visited by a handful of people,” so they must have all their supplies and safety equipment with them. “We are completely alone,” he says.
Gregus loves spending time with and getting to know the bears. “There is just something incredibly humbling about being in their presence,” he says. “I hope when people see these images they are able to build a much deeper connection with these animals, reinforcing the need to protect them not as a species, but as individuals.”
Image and video credit: Martin Gregus @mywildlive and www.matkopictures.com
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