2009 Banff Mountain Photography Competition
Special Mention
Glenn Oakley: Alaska Terminal Polar Bear
“I had finished a two-week raft trip down the Tatshenshini and Alsek Rivers and was in the Juneau airport awaiting my flight home when I encountered the polar bear under glass. This had been my second Tatshenshini trip, and in just eight years since my first, the glacial retreat along the river was noticeable. Further north where the polar bears roamed, the ice was also thinning and shrinking, leaving the bears nowhere to go — except perhaps to live under Plexiglas. The whole peculiar diorama of this once-living bear now stuffed and framed by a trash can, courtesy phone, restrooms, and a photo mural of its melting habitat seemed to say a lot about our inadvertent attitude toward nature.”
Glenn Oakley is a Boise, Idaho-based photographer noted for his ability to capture a sense of place and being in the moment. His work appears frequently in national magazines and advertising campaigns, including most recently, Colorado Tourism, Volkswagen, Men’s Journal, Runner’s World, and Smithsonian Magazine. His most recent book is The San Luis Valley: Sand Dunes & Sandhill Cranes with the writer Susan Tweit. Oakley is an avid river runner, cyclist, skier, hiker, musician, and gentleman chicken farmer.
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