The blue bear : a true story of friendship, tragedy, and survival in the Alaskan wilderness

His body twisted by adolescent scoliosis, Lynn Schooler's soul was scarred from the loneliness of someone who, at an early age, stood 'at a strange angle to the rest of the world'.

He made a life on the slim crescent of remote Alaskan coastline surrounding the city of Juneau, a place where he was least likely to encounter people.

In 1990, celebrated Japanese photographer Michio Hoshino hired Schooler to help him shoot a segment on humpback whales in Glacier Bay, and the two formed a profound friendship.

Their conversations often revolved around the glacier bear (known as the blue bear for its unique granite-coloured fur), a nearly extinct creature so rare that it is shrouded in legend.

Together, the two men became obsessed with finding the animal, every year searching through Ice-Age vistas to capture the blue bear on film.

Their obsession cost Hoshino his life when he was killed by a grizzly bear - but alone in the eighth year, Schooler finally found and photographed the elusive creature.