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 gives 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 I 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.
Hello, I found your blog on the Natureblog’s toplist. And I just had to say I love your bear photo. I just love bears and I would love to visit Katmai someday just to see the bears.
Thank you Eileen, and welcome!
Has it REALLY been months since you photograpped the bears? Sheesh time flies. Awesome image and I’ll have to check out that film. Sounds too cool!
yeah – depressing!
Hi guys,
Looks like I have stumbled across some fellow bear-lovers! Thanks for the nice comments about the PBS Nature show I am hosting – it has been an amazing experience so far. We’re filming for several more months this year in Alaska and I can’t wait to get back to it. If you like bears you’ll also love the conservation campaign and film that I am involved with – a global journey to discover bears – called BEARTREK. You can enjoy some clips here (including some more of those incredible giant brown bears in Katmai, Alaska): http://www.wildlifemedia.org/home
Thanks again for your interest and for getting word out about our show!
Best regards,
Chris Morgan
Ecologist and conservationist
Hi Chris,
That’s great you found us! Thanks for taking the time to stop by and leave a comment. Looking forward to the film, and will check out the link.
Mark
Great shot, Mark. I agree, the interplay of the bear and the river is what makes this one, along with his gait and gaze. A bear at work…
Thank you Bob. I had to decide where to file it – as a wildlife image, or a landscape image. It ended up being both!
Exploring Alaska on a motorcycle? How cool! Thanks for the tip. Glad to see another bear here, btw. You’re right…they DO rock!
Thanks Lana.
I like this image also because it includes the natural elements they live in. The bear and the river work together to make one powerful image.
Thanks Monte.
Bears – one subject I could never get tired of watching / photographing! I think you would agree.
Ron, agreed 110%.
Mark, another wonderful photo. I like that all the other elements in the photo don’t distract from “the bear” but tend to support the story. Details often make or break a photo and the rocks with fish parts certainly help make this one.
I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I’m starting to suspect you like BEARS! 😉
Thanks Earl. Don’t let that secret out OK?
Hi Mark, another great photo. Every time you post some, my thought is “It must’ve been AMAZING to be there and watch these beautiful and powerful animals in their natural habitat.” I agree that in this one the curve of the river adds dynamic feel and together with position of bears front leg it certainly evokes a feel of movement.
Thanks Tomas, yes, it was quite an amazing experience – and thank you. All I needed was a few salmon jumping out of the river when I clicked the shutter. 🙂
Hey Mark,
Checking out the bears Blog now, thanks. The bear gallery is great. Funnily enough, after you coming up here to Alaska and shooting grizzlies, and all these blog posts, and having dinner in Anchorage (thanks for the pizza!), I look over your bear photos and see a black bear I recognize from Cades Cove – how cool is that! I have shots of that same bear on my site – too cool.
Anyway, I agree with the comments about the composition here – the curve makes it happen.
Cheers
Carl
Ha! You found my ONE black bear picture I have – that’s it. Most of the time I saw them in Cades they were usually in near darkness in the woods.