Walking on sea ice, it is easy to forget that there is an ocean below you. The early morning sun bounces off a soft blanket of freshly fallen snow under an impossibly cerulean blue sky. The constant low hum of the wind carries a chorus of infant cries across this frozen world of white. I stand still for some time, listening and gazing across the landscape, absorbing the moment in its totality before pulling out my cameras.
I catch a slight movement in a ridge of snow ahead of me, a gentle and clumsy wave of a tiny yellowish-white flipper. I shoulder my backpack and begin to wade slowly through the heavy drifts of snow.