More Bears etc.

[NorthernFocus]

As previously mentioned in another post, I recently spent an entire week shooting with a photographer friend. We had planned a five day/four night trip to Lake Clark NP to shoot brown bears. Then I planned to take him out on Prince William Sound for four days on my boat. The trip to Lake Clark is via bush plane. We ended up spending an extra day there due to being fogged in and the planes unable to land. Unfortunately the fog didn't lend itself to bear photography though we tried. Our trip on the sound was shortened correspondingly. I'll make a separate post for that trip.

But before our trip across to the park, we had a full day at home. So we went up into the mountains behind home to see if we could find a moose. We did locate a couple of bulls. Here's the best I came away with.

As always the images are best viewed at higher resolution in the light box.

Nikon D810, AF-S 80-400mm VR

1. This guy wasn't real cooperative. f/5.6 @ 400 mm, 1/800, ISO 800



2. A much bigger bull but this one was in an awkward spot across a creek. f/5.6 @ 400 mm, 1/640, ISO 3200



When we arrived at bear camp it was blowing and just beginning to rain. It got progressively worse into the evening. No bears. The next morning dawned clear and calm but we didn't seen any bears at all. Not even fresh tracks. This was pretty odd as the nearby creeks were full of salmon at the peak of the run. Day three dawned clear and calm again. Very unusual for this time of year on the Katmai coast. But again no bears. We traveled about 10mi down the coast by boat to a place called Shelter Creek. Illiamna volcano provides a beautiful backdrop against which one hopes to photograph bears fishing for salmon. But again, no bears. The mountain did peak through the clouds for a bit.

3. Shelter Creek and Illiamna Volcano, D4, 70-200mm f4, f/16 @ 95 mm, 1/500, ISO 800 handheld



Finally by evening, one sow with two cubs appeared on the beach. Day four, our last full day to shoot, dawned clear yet again and we were able to locate the sow and cubs for a few shots. Unfortunately they picked a spot at the mouth of a river where the beach was thick with debris from the recent storms. But we do what we can, don't we? At least we had great light (for Alaska).

Nikon D810, 500mm VR

4. Mom and the kids, f/5.6 @ 500 mm, 1/1000, ISO 640



5. Cubbies wrestling, f/8 @ 500 mm, 1/1000, ISO 400



By afternoon of day four, a couple more bears showed up walking the beach but not fishing in earnest. This was a big sow in the 600lb range.

6. D810/500mm VR, f/8 @ 500 mm, 1/1000, ISO 400



By evening of day four fog rolled in off Cook Inlet. Day five dawned the same. Thick fog. Bad news was that our flight out was cancelled. Good news was we got to go out for more bears... in the fog. At first it seemed like the fog would provide some unique opportunities. And it was pretty cool seeing bears come looming up out of the mist. But it was beyond my skills to take advantage photographically. I did manage a couple of more when the bears were close enough.

7. D4/200-400mm VR, f/5.6 @ 310 mm, 1/1000, ISO 6400



D810/500mm VR, f/8 @ 500 mm, 1/1000, ISO 1000

8.


9.


Day six dawned thick again. While we waited to see if the planes would fly and fretted about the time we were missing from our boat trip, a fox visited camp. By afternoon they called in a float plane to get us which was able to land on a lake a little farther inland and away from the coastal fog. So ended part one of photo week.

D4/200-400mm VR

10.


11.

[Brownbear]

Hi Dan,

Thank you for sharing. As always your wildlife images are an inspiration. Beautiful, detail, light and backgrounds, and all perfectly photographed.

My favourite is #4 (magical) followed by #7, and then #10 & #11.

[Mike Buckley]

Terrific photos, Dan! My favorites are the landscape and a couple of the photos of the bears.

[Shadowman]

Nice captures, look like they spotted you in a few.

[Rita]

Wonderful images, especially the bears and the fox.

[NorthernFocus]

Thanks for looking and commenting, folks. Sorry to put you through the tedium of all the text if you read it. I woke early this morning and hoped I could type myself back asleep

Did everyone notice the little blonde cub visible between the mom's legs in no.4? The blonde was female and the chocolate colored one was male. The little girl stayed closer to mom and copied everything she did. Sniffed what mom sniffed, peed where she peed, chased away seagulls, etc. The little boy just wandered around and did his own thing unless mom had food that he thought he could score on. That's what is going on in this shot. If you look close the brown cub is trying to take what's left of a fish carcass from the sow. She was actually jogging away from the kids trying to finish her fish in peace.

[bnnrcn]

The photos of the bears and the fox are very nice. I also like the landscape shot

[Brownbear]

Yes, indeed I noticed the little blond cub... Hence, my comment "Magical!"

Your text about wildlife is always informative and a pleasure to read.

Thanks for looking and commenting, folks. Sorry to put you through the tedium of all the text if you read it. I woke early this morning and hoped I could type myself back asleep

Did everyone notice the little blonde cub visible between the mom's legs in no.4? The blonde was female and the chocolate colored one was male. The little girl stayed closer to mom and copied everything she did. Sniffed what mom sniffed, peed where she peed, chased away seagulls, etc. The little boy just wandered around and did his own thing unless mom had food that he thought he could score on. That's what is going on in this shot. If you look close the brown cub is trying to take what's left of a fish carcass from the sow. She was actually jogging away from the kids trying to finish her fish in peace.

[IzzieK]

Dan...I did not mind the long text. I love your story telling coupled with photos. I can almost hear the narration as I go along and scroll through the post. All good shots. I love #9 best of all...

[NorthernFocus]

Glad you ladies enjoyed the thread. Hopefully tonight I'll post another with the rest of our trip, the boating portion.

Izzie, my wife also loves that shot in no.9. Doesn't the bear have an expression as if to say "do you mind, how about a little privacy here?!"

[ajsmith]

Dan,

All wonderful photos, I can't pick a favorite, I like too many of them.

[IzzieK]

I love his eyes...I just kept scrolling back just to see the expression.

[NorthernFocus]

Thanks, Ali. Glad you liked the series.

I love his eyes...I just kept scrolling back just to see the expression.

Isn't it amazing how important it is for us to see the eyes of animals as well as other people? We instinctively seek eye contact to read emotions from other mammals. That's why people are also drawn to photos that include eye contact.

[Nicks Pics]

I enjoyed reading about how the adventure went, and the background behind these photos. Wildlife photos are interesting in the same way macro photography is, in that they show something people do not usually see, which is, a large part of the point of photography. I think it is interesting to hear the backgrounds about wildlife photos therefore, having just recently been trying to advance from being one of those people who look at wildlife close-ups and don't even think to wonder how they were captured. You know, most people, if they have ever seen a bear or moose in the wild at all, probably just saw a blob loping across the road ahead of them or similar. Now I am trying to get familiar with just HOW folks can get these photos of wild animals that you can see as well as if you were sitting across the table from them ( Hence my "Hunting with a camera") thread a bit ago. So the stories were helpful. The photos were great too!

[FootLoose]

I like #7 for the way the light falls on the bear and the overall colour pallet of that shot. And #9 of course, for the bear's expression. But my favourite of the set is #3, the landscape. I like the layers of colour, the depth of field and the lighting.

[csa mt]

Dan, every image is outstanding! I cannot begin to pick a favorite. I'd pick one, then see another, pick it, etc. Your narrative is a wonderful companion to these exceptional images, so keep the narratives going!

Thanks so much for sharing such a magical time!

[pnodrog]

It is certainly a series of photographs I am happy to just enjoy rather than trying to offer any critique at all.

[NorthernFocus]

Nick, Greg, Carol, and L.Paul, glad you all enjoyed the photos and the story. It's nice reliving trips as I'm editing photos. Then posting here and thinking how to describe things as briefly as possible is yet another way to remember the trip. So I'm glad folks enjoy seeing/reading it all at least to some degree.

Greg that landscape was one of those scenes that you stand there looking at and just hope you do it justice and don't screw it up. The exposure was a bit challenging with the sun on the snow topped mountain, but that is also what made it interesting for me. It helped shooting it with a camera that had plenty of dynamic range. I must have shot a couple dozen frames of that scene over the course of a couple of hours as the clouds/light kept changing every few minutes. This one was my favorite of the lot.

[Texas Dave]

Thank you for such inspiring photos!

[terrib]

Wow. Just WOW!

Dan, if you ever decide to conduct a photography workshop please let me know! I'd gladly pay to follow you around!