Scarface of Katmai
Hard to believe I didn’t introduce this big guy to you folks sooner. Obviously from my bear trip last fall, but this particular bear made quite an impression for obvious reasons. Not only was this male boar huge, but the scar across his nose gave him, well to put it bluntly – the total badass look. I still get a little freaked out when I look at this image and think about being so close to an animal like this.
The male bears were probably the most shy of all of them. It took quite awhile for Scarface to make close approaches to us through the river. I particularly wanted to catch a moment when those claws were clearly visible.
If you ever saw the movie Scarface, and if this bear could talk, I think it is likely he would say a lot of what Tony Montana said in the movie.
“…The last time you gonna see a bad guy like this again, let me tell you. Come on. Make way for the bad guy. There’s a bad guy comin’ through! Better get outta his way!” – Tony Montana, from the movie Scarface, 1983.
Only this bear’s little friends are his claws instead of a machine gun. :-)
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Bear and river
Hard to believe months have already gone by and I am still digging out favorites from my trip to Katmai National Park in Alaska. Bears are such amazing animals, I still feel quite privileged to have had the experiences with them. Each time I move through my editing process, I encounter a gem or two, and this is one I particularly liked.
I liked the graphical interplay between the bear and river in this image. The curvature of the river in combination with the bear’s stride give a bit of a dynamic feel I think. You can see some remnants of salmon heads in the rocks, and I always dig a little rim light. These bears would quite frequently hunt along the sides of the river watching for salmon activity. Did I mention Bears rock?!
I learned about a new film in the works by PBS’s NATURE program while searching for some info about a show that was just on.
The film is intended to be a portrait of three bear species; brown bears, black bears, and polar bears – all filmed in Alaska, featuring bear biologist Chris Morgan. He will be exploring Alaska mostly by motorcycle supposedly, with the film due out in 2011. There is a pretty cool blog with videos following his journey that you can check out here: The Bear Blog with Chris Morgan . It looks like it could be pretty good from what I have read and watched so far. I don’t know much more than that, but will start following it more closely. Check it out if interested.
This bear photo was captured near a river feeding Kinak Bay in Katmai National Park, Alaska, using a Nikon D700 and 200-400 f4 VR lens at ISO 1250. It was post-processed in Adobe Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS3 on a Mac. More bear pictures from my trip can be found in my gallery here.
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Wandering the Geographic
I have read a lot of articles and writeups about folks who advocate shooting only RAW file formats and those who shoot JPEGs only. For the most part, I say – to each his own. It doesn’t really matter to me what others shoot with. There is one aspect however, beyond the number crunching, beyond the print comparisons, that is often overlooked – the future. I think that beginners and experienced alike need to be conscious of what the implications of their file format choice not only means to them today, but also 10, 15, 20 years down the road. I believe the current albatrosses that hang around RAW capture’s neck are the limitations on the technology of output devices – print publications, monitors, and most printers can barely touch reproducing all of the possible data that a RAW file captures.
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Time at the spa
Yes, another bear photo! 
This image communicates something entirely different than my previous one on bear claws, but they still attract attention eh? This is “Mom” brown bear taking a little time away from the kids for some maintenance of those claws – a little polishing – tending to the cuticles, etc. The deeper water helps stay mostly submerged and away from the nagging insects buzzing around that are quite obvious in this photograph. Actually I was a bit surprised to find this many bugs in mid-September in Alaska, some areas worse than others. I think the cubs look a little bored and impatient waiting on the shoreline for Mom to be done or bring a fish. She knows where to go for a little time away.
It also reminds me of website maintenance and redesign and so many other things I had hoped to do during this time between Christmas and New Years, but I got hit with a pretty bad flu that has kept me from making any progress on that end. It seems like it is on the way out now, but will take awhile before I get re-motivated to take some of that on.
And lastly, I certainly appreciate all the comments, links, and feedback you have provided me on this blog over this year. I know the end of the year reflections back tend to be commonplace, and that is one that cannot be overstated. What’s ahead and what about favorites of 2009? I am not entirely sure yet. My thinking still needs to clear up from flu meds – clear away the bugs, and sharpen the claws, and scratch out some thoughts for some future posts.
This image was captured using a Nikon D700, 200-400 f4 lens, ISO 1600 at Kinak Bay, Katmai National Park, Alaska. Post processing by Lightroom 2, Photoshop CS3 using luminosity masks and Topaz Detail.
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Bear claws
Processing bear photos continues….
I thought this was an interesting portrait in how you do not see the bear’s eyes, but my attention is drawn almost immediately to the claws. I wondered if this was an instinctual reaction to a threat. Similar to the way people react to big teeth, antlers, or other features that may be considered as weapons. I have similar images in this sequence without the claws, and they don’t provide quite the same tension.
This big boar (ie. male) was wading around in a river in front of us, digging up fish scraps, blowing bubbles, and generally acting somewhat bored. I was practically lying down on a river bank to capture this low angle view, which I think also establishes a certain intimacy. Thank you for visiting!
Link to gallery: Brown bear photos
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