It is difficult to express the excitement that one experiences on a bear photography trip to Alaska. Just the scenery alone is worth the adventure to this wild and remote land. Photographing coastal Brown Bears is an experience like no other .
Photographing Brown Bears in Alaska
It is difficult to express the deep feelings of photographing Brown bears in Alaska.
A once in a lifetime opportunity to photograph a brown bear from a very low camera angle. I had to hold tight as this bear ran past me to my complete surprise. I held very still and maintained the low to the ground camera angle.It is difficult to express the excitement that one experiences on a bear photography trip to Alaska. Just the scenery alone is worth the adventure to this wild and remote land. Photographing coastal Brown Bears is an experience like no other. The adventure of bush planes flying over the tundra and landing on beaches. The feelings of the changing of seasons and beautiful fall colors. The amazing food and wonderful cabins all add up to an experience that will always be at the top of my best of memories. However there is one thing that truly stands out to me when photographing bears. The very deep down feeling and experience of watching bears in motion, as they display the fast and well coordinated look of a perfect athlete . When experiencing the true power and determination of these massively strong mammals, it is a perfect example of nature at it’s very best. The brown bear is a very strong yet agile animal that uses all its strength to survive. The intense sounds and feelings of feet thumping on the sandy coastline, the deep breaths and growls that fill the air, and the small brown eyes that scan the river for salmon, all this adds up to a level of excitement and joy that is beyond explanation.
A once in a lifetime opportunity to photograph a brown bear from a very low camera angle. I had to hold tight as this bear ran past me to my complete surprise. I held very still and maintained the low to the ground camera angle. I remained calm and took my lens to as wide as it would go. At 60 mm I was still able to compress the background and give the bear a larger than life appearance. I will probably never have this opportunity again, fortunately my exposure was preset and I was in manual camera settings.
We were blessed with many cubs this year. It was so reassuring to see more cubs than on any previous visit to Alaska. This is a great indication of a very positive future for the Coastal Brown Bears. Do to the outstanding job of the researchers, the funding from adventure and photographic tourism and well maintained natural habitat, the wild bears are doing very well
The salmon were running strong over the first five days of our bear safari. We were able to witness the bears fishing and establishing dominance over their favorite fishing places. Often fish would be taken from cubs or a less dominant bears.
The salmon play a very vital role in providing the pounds of fat to the bears that is needed to survive the winter. It is said that fishing bears can put on three to nine pounds of fat per day. This is one of the main reasons why the coastal brown bear is among the biggest of the grizzly bears
We were blessed with several good fox sightings. These siblings were seen on several occasions. They gave us some nice opportunities to enjoy and experience their behavior as well as photograph them.
We had the pleasure of watching this fox jump the creek and gather an old salmon carcass. I managed to photograph him as he jumped back across the creek and returned to his den.
Although it was a bit chilly in the morning, the sunrise opportunities were amazing. photographing the brown bears against the beautiful morning backdrop was a very special experience. We had great sunrises on five of our seven days. I managed to get several beautiful images.
