Passengers on a tour of the Northwest Passage boarded Zodiacs near Beechey Island, Canada, after hearing of a possible polar bear sighting—the first of the trip. “Our drivers maneuvered us [into] perfect positions to take pictures of the bear without stressing the animal,” writes Your Shot member Nina Stavlund. “You could feel the excitement, but everyone was very quiet.” With flowing adrenaline and a pounding heart—”This was, after all, my first polar bear in the wild”—Stavlund was shaking so much that she had to take a few deep breaths. “I made sure my shutter was fast and that I had a good exposure [so as] not to wash out the beautiful white coat. [When] the bear turned its head toward the sun, I saw a catch light in the eye and pressed the shutter until my buffer was full.”

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