Brown bears at Brooks Falls, in Katmai National Park, watch a spawning Sockeye Salmon attempt to leap up the waterfall. Brown bear, or grizzly bear (Ursus arctos), Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

Many of you may or may not be aware of this critical issue. A proposed open-pit mine in Alaska, in the heart of the Bristol Bay watershed, potentially threatens some of the wildest and vital land in Alaska. The salmon fishery of Bristol Bay is one of the world’s most productive fisheries. It is also the pulse of a vibrant and productive ecosystem that’s home to the great coastal brown bears of Katmai National Park and surrounding regions. The bears we love to see and photograph grow fat on the riches of spawning salmon. The bald eagles that gather in the thousands every summer here thrive on spawning salmon.

The proposed mine, the Pebble Limited Partnership, would create a “10-square-mile-wide containment pond are intended to hold between 2.5 billion and 10 billion tons of mine waste that Pebble would produce over its lifetime”, a 700′ tall dam wall and several miles in length. One of the largest mines in the world, it’s expected to span a 20 mile swathe of Alaska State land. The acidic nature of the waste would require environmental treatment and monitoring for years to come. The potential devastation if something goes awry here, in the land of frequent volcanic and seismic activity, would be immeasurable. (more…)

A male brown bear, Ursus arctos, approaches up river, fishing for spawning sockeye salmon, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

I thought I’d post another image from our Katmai brown bear photo tour last fall. I’ve shot this bear for so many years now; it’s awesome to go back and revisit these bears year to year, particularly the bears that are so great to photograph as this one.

When I first started photographing this bear, he was a young subadult, just out on his own. He’s nearly doubled in size over the last few years, and now is a good size bear, though still has a number of pounds to gain before he reaches his full size.

One thing that becomes so readily apparent when photographing bears is how truly individual they are. They can be as different from one to another as we are. Some bears will walk right on by, fishing and wandering the river, with little more than a sideways glance at us, while others wont’ come close at all, and seem to always keep an eye on people around the area.

This means a lot when it comes to things like how to act in bear country; it means the generalized ‘protocols’ that we read about and hear are, while valuable, not set in stone. It’s more important to pay attention to the bear, and to closely watch the bear’s signals. than to think about some line in a book at that said “In situation A, you should do B”; hard and fast rules rarely hold true, but never more so, perhaps, than when dealing with 1000lb+ predators. (more…)

Brown bear, Ursus arctos, walking upright down Brooks Lake near the footbridge, first light of a cool, foggy morning. Brown bear, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

Just back from a fantastic 2 weeks in Katmai National Park on our Grizzly Bears in the Fall Photo Tour. What a great way to wind up the season!

This year we had a challenging but rewarding trip; there were definitely fewer bears than in some recent years (still more than 45 bears along the river), but some great weather, light and conditions helped us to all make some nice images.

This photo I have to say a big thank you to one of the folks on week #2, Chris, a Brit now living in San Diego. I was loaded down with my 500mm and D300s on my tripod, and my D700 and 70-300m over my shoulder. We had moved off the river a little to give a passing bear some room, when this scene appeared behind us. Trying to stumble thru 4′ tall grass, hummocks and tussocks and wet marsh without busting my tail was a bit of a mission, and Chris kindly offered to hold my 500mm for me, so I could step over the ground easier and snag a shot before it was too late. Thanks Chris, I appreciate it. (more…)

4 grizzly bear (brown bear, Ursus arctos) cubs sit in the forest, and await there mother's return. Grizzly bear cubs, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

Heading off for 2 weeks in Katmai National Park for the grizzly bear fall photo tour. Hopefully we’ll run into these 4 youngsters again, though it’d be most surprising if all 4 cubs made it through last winter; I sure hope so, but the ways of the wild aren’t always aligned with our hopes. Their mom turned herself inside out last fall feeding these hungry bear cubs, so we’ll see how things went for them.

See you folks back in October.

Cheers

Carl

Brown bear sow, or female grizzly bear stands tall, raised up on her hind feet. Coastal brown bears can stand nearly 10' tall. (Ursus arctos). Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. To view a larger version of this photo, please click on the photo above.

Hey Folks,

From last year’s Grizzly Bear Fall Photo Tour. It took a lot of trying, but I finally managed to snag a few images of this grand bear standing upright, looking toward me.

A photo like this is one I’ve really wanted for a long, long time, so I was pretty glad when I finally managed to get something like this.

Can’t wait to get back there this year and see how she’s doing. The bears are just a great way to end the season.

Cheers

Carl

A female brown bear (grizzly bear, Ursus arctos) chases Sockeye Salmon up Brooks River. Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

Wow, another month has passed by already! So here’s the Image of the Month for November, 2010. No surprises for what kind of photo would be posted this month; after 2 weeks of virtually nonstop grizzly bear photography at the end of September, I could do a whole year of Images of the Month with nothing but bear photos.

So, speaking of bear photos, I might just add that I’ve updated the 2 bear galleries on the website, as I undertake a major overhaul of all the photo galleries here. Tedious work, but they’re such a schemozzle I know I need to do it. (and, I really wanted to use the word “schemozzle” in a blog post). So, take a look at the new galleries .. virtually all new images posted, with larger photos, too. Here’s the Bears #1 gallery, and here is the Bears #2 gallery. I hope you enjoy some of the images. Oh, and I also added the dates for the 2011 bear photo tour.

So, back to this image; just a nice low angle on a sow racing through the water, splashing her way after some luckless Sockeye salmon. I’m glad I’m not a 5lb fish meeting a 800lb bear!

Hope you like it folks.

Cheers

Carl

An adult grizzly bear standing, back turned, mouth open, in long grass, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click the image to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

Here’s a photo that might be of interest to photography fans here. To me, this photo expresses what nature photography is all about; shooting, re-shooting, shooting some more, time and again, and doing everything you can to ‘get that shot’, and still coming home empty handed. How so?

One of the photos I REALLY want is a big ole grizzly bear standing upright, with a nice background. So far, I’ve not yet made that image. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a few opportunities, and unfortunate enough to blow every single one of them.

To catch a nice, full-frame shot of a bear standing upright means anticipation, as well as luck. More often than not, when I’ve been close enough to make a shot like this, I’m shooting with the camera/lens in a horizontal position, and when the bear stands, I can’t fit it all in the frame. It’s simply too easy to miss this kind of shot and too hard to actually nail it.

Adult bears rarely stand upright, and when they do, they don’t do it for very long. Generally the behavior is a ‘look around’; something alarms the bear and they stand up to get a better view, sniff the air, and see whether they need to flee, or ignore the potential danger. A few seconds is all they stand for, most of the time, and they drop back to all fours. That means to make the photo, the photographer has to be in position and ready for the shot ahead of time; there simply isn’t time to switch the camera/lens to a vertical position and shoot – well, I should say RARELY is there time to switch. Sometimes it happens, but not often. (more…)

Grizzly bear rubbing on a tree, Katmai National Park, Alaska. Please click on the photo for a larger version.

Hey Folks

Welcome to April! The Image of the Month for this month is a grizzly bear rubbing his head on a tree. I photographed this bear sleeping not long before I took this photo, and after he woke up, he strolled directly over to this small Black Cottonwood tree, and rubbed and scratched on it for quite some time. I got a few photos of him standing at full height, which is an impressive sight for a bear this size. I’d estimate him to be well over 9′ tall.

April is the month the bears typically will be waking up from their long winter hibernation, and start moving around again. Won’t be long before my sojourns into the woods will again require my can of bear spray in my pocket. This bear had just awoken, so I thought it might be a good photo of the month for April for that reason.

Bear hibernation is a pretty amazing phenomena. No other animal anywhere near the size of the grizzly can sleep an entire winter away, living off it’s fat reserves, stored up from a summer of eating. Some folks argue that grizzlies (and black bears) aren’t true hibernators, because they actually wake up during the winter, and their body temperatures don’t reach down to the temperatures of other (what we call) “true hibernators”, like the Arctic Ground Squirrel, etc. Other people contend that given it’s size and mass, the grizzly is probably the greatest hibernator on the planet.

However we refer to it, I’m not sure the grizzly cares.

Cheers

Carl

A large mature adult grizzly bear male, or boar, approaching, Katmai National Park, Alaska. Click to see a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks,

Just a quick post to announce that spaces are filling up on the grizzly bear photo tours, scheduled for Fall, 2010. It’s also, perhaps, a good time to say check over the website, and see how you like the recent changes. The Grizzly Bear Photo Tour page is just one of the new additions, and that tour has already had a bunch of inquiries. I don’t want to sound like a car salesman here, so I won’t say ‘book quickly‘, but I do want to say, if you’re thinking about it, it might be worth at least sending a quick email to get your name on the list. That way I can at least put a temporary tentative hold on a space for you.

I’m also excited about a few other trips this summer, including a Mt Jarvis exploratory hike, and a few others you can see listed on the custom trips page.

The ANWR trip is a great float down the Canning River, and we’ve added a great slide show from that trip. Take a look at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge trip. (more…)

Hey Folks,

I’ve been crazy busy trying to get the website overhauled – I hope you enjoy the new design. Fortunately, I’m a better photographer and backcountry guide than I am web coder!

Here’s a video I shot in Katmai National Park and Preserve, of a family a bears fishing in Brooks River while another young bear wanders around the scene – the young cubs get a little distraught, but ole mom is pretty undisturbed about it all. If you’re not a member of Facebook and can’t see the video, you can view the video on Youtube here.

Anyway, I thought I’d post this here just to keep in touch, and look forward to our Grizzly Bears in the Fall phototour coming in 2010. I’ve just added that html page, so be sure to check it out. I have 2 slide shows on there of new grizzly bear photos.

Cheers

Carl