Polar Bear Head

It's not easy getting up close to a polar bear. A taxi driver in Churchill, Manitoba, back in 1975 drove myself and two buddies to the dump to see polar bears. I was nineteen at the time. He yelled at us to stay back as we approached the bears.

He said to stand by the car. He told us about how a tourist had his arm ripped off, how the bears could be unpredictable and in a few seconds, tear a man apart.

The bear in this photo wandered into the Inuit village of Kangirsuk, during the winter of 2008. I felt sad to witness the death of such a beautiful animal. However, such animals are dangerous, especially when they wander through a village.

I imagined how the bear must have looked as it roamed the tundra. I took many photos of the dead bear and then selected one, opened it in Photoshop and painted out the blood.