In wildlife photography, we often see photos depicting the photographer’s or a hunting animal’s perspective. But this unique image of a hungry polar bear, captured from a seal’s perspective, is nothing short of a nightmarish scene.
The frame was created by Norwegian photographer Audun Rikardsen, who rigged a Canon EOS 6D DSLR directly beneath a seal’s breathing hole on Arctic drift ice, with a motion sensor also set up to fire the shutter.
A few hours later, a hungry polar bear stuck its head in, searching for its next meal, capturing what can only be described as the last thing a seal would ever want to see.
Rikardsen's gear and settings
- Canon EOS 6D
- Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM
- f/9
Rikardsen’s image, aptly titled A Seal’s Nightmare, was recently crowned Image of the Year at the Our Nature Photo & Video Award 2026.
The photographer told the contest organizers that having already waited eight hours for the bear to arrive and trigger the motion sensor, the animal then bedded down next to the hole for a nine-hour kip. This left Rikardsen no choice but to wait for the polar bear to awaken from its slumber to retrieve his camera.
At the 2026 Our Nature Awards, winners were announced across a range of wildlife photography categories.
In the “Stories or Portfolio” category, Belgian photojournalist Alain Schroeder took first place. His series documented daily life at a clinic operated by the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP), Indonesia, where workers help rehabilitate and prepare rescued, injured, and formerly captive orangutans for return to the wild.
The photographer explained that expansion of palm oil and rubber plantations, logging, road construction, mining and hunting are forcing increasing numbers of orangutans out of their natural environment.
And in the “Our Nature – Air” category, Czech photographer Jan Pokluda placed first with a frame depicting a great spotted woodpecker feeding its chick in what he told the contest organizers was an “unusually low” nesting cavity in the trunk of an old oak tree.
All of the winners from this year’s Our Nature Photo & Video Award 2026 can be seen on the contest’s official website. Speaking about his winning image, Audun Rikardsen said: “When I finally saw the image, I knew I had captured the polar bear photograph I had dreamed of for years.”
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