In late June 2024, I left the port of Longyearbyen in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard under gray afternoon skies on the Virgo, a small ship carrying nine other photographers, four guides, and a crew of six. For nine days, we traveled above the Arctic Circle up to 80 degrees North through 24-hour daylight into the domain of Polar Bears, Walruses, seals, and tens of thousands of seabirds visiting to breed. The images below represent some of the most memorable encounters with the world’s largest terrestrial carnivore Ursus maritimus, the apex predator of the frozen North.

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