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Polar Bear Paw Photograph in 35mm Film
One Shot, One Polar Bear Paw, and the Cover of Emerge
...And Yes, I Have the Video
Possibly my favorite part of this entire story is that I also have video of the polar bear swimming his laps and pushing that exact foot against the glass.
So you can actually see the moment I was waiting for.
There's something funny about watching the video now knowing that somewhere during those laps I was standing on the other side of the glass with an almost 70-year-old Leica, an external light meter and exactly one frame that I was hoping would work.
It did.
And tomorrow, that one little click gets to hang on the wall at Crealdé—and somehow ended up on the cover of the show.
Not bad for a polar bear foot.
There is something especially terrifying—and exciting—about shooting film when you know you only have one chance to get the photograph.
You don't get to look at the back of the camera.
You don't get to check your focus.
You don't get to take 37 versions of the same image and decide which one worked later.
Sometimes you take one photograph, wind the film forward, and hope.
And sometimes, months later, that photograph ends up on the cover of an art exhibition.
The Story Behind Polar Bear Paw
On March 27, 2026, I was at the St. Louis Zoo with my Leica M3 and a roll of Kodak T-Max black-and-white film.
One of the polar bears was swimming his daily laps in the observatory pool. Each time he came around, he would push himself off the glass with his foot before continuing through the water.
And I became completely obsessed with that little polar bear foot pressed against the glass.
As a photographer, those are my favorite moments—the weird little details that aren't necessarily the obvious photograph.
I wanted THAT photograph.
Because I was shooting with a Leica M3 rangefinder, there was no autofocus, no automatic exposure and definitely no screen where I could immediately see whether I had gotten the shot. I was also using an external light meter.
So I metered for the dirt on the glass, composed the photograph and waited.
The bear swam around.
And around.
Then his foot hit the glass.
Click.
That was it.
I took exactly one photograph of his foot.
Not five.
Not twenty.
One.
And then I went home without knowing whether it worked.
Waiting for the Film
That's one of the things I've fallen in love with about film photography.
Digital photography gives us certainty almost immediately. Film asks you to surrender some of that control.
I traveled back home to Florida with that roll of T-Max still holding an image I hadn't seen.
Eventually I developed the film, went into the darkroom at Crealdé School of Art, put the negative into the enlarger and finally saw what had happened during that fraction of a second in St. Louis.
I got it.
The paw was there against the glass. The texture, the water, the movement and that enormous soft foot were exactly what had made me stop and watch him in the first place.
One frame.
And somehow, it worked.
From the St. Louis Zoo to the Darkroom
The final piece, Polar Bear Paw, is a silver gelatin print.
That distinction matters to me.
This isn't an image that lived entirely inside a computer. Light came through the lens of a mechanical film camera and exposed a piece of T-Max film. I developed that film, took the negative into a darkroom, projected it through an enlarger and made the final photograph by hand.
There's something wonderfully full-circle about an image created through such a slow, uncertain process becoming the image Crealdé selected for the cover of Emerge: New Works by 3D & Photography Fellowship and Studio Artists.
Seeing my polar bear's giant little foot staring back at me from the exhibition artwork was pretty surreal.
Emerge at Crealdé School of Art
Emerge is a biennial exhibition featuring new work created by artists participating in Crealdé School of Art's Fellowship and Studio Artist Programs.
The programs function as residency-style opportunities, giving participating artists access to studio facilities while providing mentorship and teaching experience. The artists work across photography, painting, drawing, ceramics, sculpture and other media.
That's one reason I'm especially excited about this exhibition.
It's not simply a photography show. It's a chance to see what a group of artists working in very different mediums have been developing during their time at Crealdé.
The Fellowship and Studio Artist programs are also deeply connected to Crealdé's educational community. Fellows and studio artists aren't isolated away making work—we're learning from instructors and one another, working in the studios, assisting with classes and contributing to the community that exists on campus.
Photography fellows at the show opening tomorrow night are the very talented Alex Smith, Mark Frey, Thomas Kehr, Jacob Bates, Kevin Kolczynski, and Amy Jo Edwards. Fellow leadership mentoring the event are John Baker and Jim Hobart.
My own time as a Photography Fellow has pushed me further into the part of photography I've become increasingly obsessed with: film, negatives, chemistry, enlargers and making photographs with my hands.
And now one of those photographs gets to welcome people into the show.
Opening Night
Emerge: New Works by 3D & Photography Fellowship and Studio Artists
Opening ReceptionFriday, October 2, 20267–9 PM
Exhibition DatesOctober 2–December 12, 2026
Showalter Hughes Community GalleryCrealdé School of Art – Main Campus600 St. Andrews Blvd.Winter Park, Florida 32792
Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday from 9 AM–4 PM and Friday and Saturday from 9 AM–1 PM.
The exhibition is an opportunity to see the work of the Photography and 3D Fellows and Studio Artists together and to see what everyone has been creating during their time at Crealdé.
I'll be there for the opening reception—and I'll be adding photographs from opening night to this post afterward.
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