Standing in front of any of Canadian photographer Paul Nicklen’s large-scale images in the current exhibition at Hilton Contemporary, one cannot help but be totally in awe. Nicklen, who is one of the new breed of shooters known as conservation photographers—arguably the best of them, clearly connects with his subjects.These are not images shot from a great distance with an enormous lens, but up close and personal—nothing but a small distance between photographer and subject. Like his wife Cristina Mittermeier, whom I reviewed earlier this summer, Nicklen connects with his wildlife, and it shows in their eyes—many of them gaze at him trustingly, almost lovingly.
Nicklen, who says he was “born to ice,” (the title of his gorgeous new book) was literally born in the Arctic Circle. His family was one of the non-Inuit families in an Inuit community, and he and his friends grew up with nature as their entertainment.
A marine biologist by training, Nicklen co-founded the nonprofit organization SeaLegacy in 2014, “a conservation and production organization on a mission to ignite hope and change for our planet through ocean stories.” He is a National Geographic Fellow, a TED Talks legend and has won more than thirty awards for his photography and efforts to preserve the natural world. There is a wonderful documentary on Nicklen and Mittermeier available on the Hulu series “Photographer.”
I see a lot of photography, and I am seldom completely awestruck, but viewing these photographs I was almost speechless. Not at their size or subject matter, but at the connection I feel because of Nicklen’s rapport with his animal subjects. A mother polar bear and her two cubs stand in a snowdrift, totally unafraid, looking at the camera with curiosity in “A Mother’s Universe,” and in “Innocence,” the jet-black marble eyes of a harp seal pup gaze back at Nicklen sweetly. In “Commitment,” an iconic Antarctic image of Nicklen’s, an emperor penguin mother stands over her chick, looking down lovingly while the chick gazes at the photographer, unafraid.
Nicklen’s eye is amazing, and his sense of composition is innate. In “Polar Impressions,” polar bear tracks lead from the lower right to the upper left on a diagonal, the meager sun increasing the shadows they cast. In “Silent Vigil,” a mountain lion ducks out of the snowfall in the overhang of an enormous rock—a veil of snow lending texture to the entire scene.
In “Propulsion,” a color image, three penguins shoot like projectiles toward the surface, bubble trails fanning out behind them. “Ice Waterfall,” which was used as the album cover image for Pearl Jam’s “Gigaton,” is stunning in its sheer cliffs of ice—you can almost hear the water hit the surface of the sea, and it is terrifying to imagine the ice melted away. Nicklen writes, “This striking scene is a reminder of the fragility of this icy ecosystem.” His commitment to the natural world is not only heroic but produces breathtakingly beautiful images that should speak to each and every one of us. Let’s hope people are listening as well as looking.
“Paul Nicklen: Reverence” is on view at Hilton Contemporary, 716 North Wells, through November 9.
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