BEAR PHOTOGRAPHY

A long lens is a must.  You just don't want to be close, for your own safety and in order not to disturb the animals.  I used a 560mm lens for most of the pictures on this website, along with Kodachrome 64 speed film.  These images were made in the 1970's, long before the days of Fuji Provia-F which I think I would have preferred, especially on dull cloudy days in Alaska.  While grab shots are possible in Yellowstone, Glacier, and even in Colorado (where black bears visit my kitchen window), seeing and photographing bears as a serious but non-professional wildlife photographer probably requires going to a location where bears congregate to feed.  The better known of these have now become extremely popular and visitor quotas are or may soon be in effect.  Check it out on the web.

Our trips have included:

McNeil River, Alaska.  The classic spot.  Lottery permit required.  Best in  mid to late July.  If you get there prey for good weather, but go in any case.  The bears are pretty tolerant of nearby photographers, but be careful.  See story below.  http://www.state.ak.us/local/akpages/FISH.GAME/wildlife/region2/refuge2/mr-home.htm

Brooks Camp, Katmai N.P. Alaska.  Another classic, less controlled, observation point along the Brooks River.   Best times:  July and September http://alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Activities/Bears/brooksbears.html

Denali N.P.  Bears can be observed from the tour buses, though the rangers are pretty fussy about people getting off with bears in view.  While hiking after Dall Sheep, we photographed a barren ground grizzly ripping apart the side of a hill in search of ground squirrels.  The power and destructiveness of this earth moving activity, in order to get an M&M sized morsel, was spectacular.  Best time:  August and early September.

Churchill Manitoba.  The classic polar bear spot. 

A Close Encounter.  While photographing at the McNeil River platform in 1976 I had the following close encounter of the unwanted kind.  Everyone else had returned to the camp, several miles away across a tidal flat.  I decided, and was permitted, to hang out alone with the bears (awesome!) and intended to return before the tide came in and blocked the normal route back to the camp.  Hiking back, singing away to announce my presence, I stumbled on a bear with a cub, just a few meters away, and that set my nerves up for the following.  As the water was coming in, the only way back was on a narrow strip of mud between a cliff and the ocean.  I down-climbed the cliff to find a mother and two cubs about 100 yards down the strip, precisely in the direction I had to go.  If the mother didn't move off, I would be stuck out in prime bear territory for the night  with no trees to sleep in.  I waited and waited as the water got in further and further, covering the last route back.  Of course the bears could swim off but with all my gear and no wet suit II couldn't.  Finally, in desperation, a clacked the legs of my tripod together several times loudly to announce my intentions, and fortunately the bears, instead of becoming curious and approaching, wandered off.