ŠPaul Nicklen/National Geographic I've
already spoken about Paul Nicklen on the post entitled The
Polar Bear reflection so make reference to that article
to have more info about this extraordinary National Geographic
Photographer The first time that I've seen the amazing
picture here above depicting what seems an incredibly close-up
shot of a Leopard
Seal chasing a penguin I was stunned and I thought
"How can the photographer be so close to the action?!?". In the
following video Paul Nicken tells us the story behind the shot
which is quite different from what I previously thought (the penguin
is already dead) but this doesn't take out anything of the charme
of the picture, on the contrary it probably increases it beacuse
Nicken was the protagonist of what was in my opinion one of the
most amazing experience a photographer could ever have. First
of all, you have to understand that Leopard Seals are huge voracious
predators that can be very dangerous for human beings (in
2003 a scientist was killed). Paul Nicklen in this case came
face to face with an oversized specimen of almost 4 meters. What
happened later is almost incredible: the Leopard Seal, over the
course of four days, started to behave in an unexpected way traying
to fed penguins to Nicklen's camera (that it thought it was his
mouth) and tried to teach him how to catch prey! Take a look at
the video and you'll understand what I'm talking about:
A couple of images depicting Paul Nicken during this fabulous
experience: 
ŠNational Geographic 
ŠNational Geographic Some of the hundreds of fantastic Leopard
Seal pictures that Paul Nicklen made for National Geographic (taken
from this Gallery):
ŠPaul Nicklen/National Geographic 
ŠPaul Nicklen/National Geographic 
ŠPaul Nicklen/National Geographic 
ŠPaul Nicklen/National Geographic
ŠPaul Nicklen/National Geographic 
ŠPaul Nicklen/National Geographic The following ones can also
be downloaded in a bigger size in the wallpaper
section of the National Geographic website: 
ŠPaul Nicklen/National Geographic 
ŠPaul Nicklen/National Geographic
ŠPaul Nicklen/National Geographic 
ŠPaul Nicklen/National Geographic 
ŠPaul Nicklen/National Geographic Now you can:
- visit Paul Nicklen's own website
- visit Paul Nicklen's page on National Geographic site
- buy his book Polar Obsession
- Take a look at the National Geographic Leopard Seal gallery by Paul Nicklen
- Read a National Geographic article by Kim Heacox about Leopard Seals
- View a National Geographic "Deadly Beauty" interactive video
