She Went to Alaska Hoping to Photograph Polar Bears in Snow

Photographer Patty Waymire went to Barter Island, Alaska hoping to see beautiful sights we would all expect in Alaska; sadly we’ve let her down. She wanted to capture full-white, awe-inspiring photos of polar bears in the snow but she got none of it. Patty was greeted with oddly confused polar bears of mud-stained fur, playing in the wet sand instead of being surrounded by snow and ice that made this island magical. “The locals told me that it was an unusually warm winter and that the snow would be late in arriving. It is one of the warmest winters on record,” she said. “The lack of snow and ice was so evident that it told a story without requiring any words.” As a good reflection of dire effects of global warming, one of her photos titled “No Snow, No Ice” got an honorable mention in a National Geographic photo competition.