Photographing Alaska's BROWN BEARS

PSA Journal, August, 2001 by Carol Bailey

Last summer I won a trip to Alaska to rub elbows with the bears in Katmai National Park. These were not the bears at Brooks Lodge where there are more people than bears and the wait for your turn of 30 minutes on the platform may be four or five hours. These were the ones that live 150 miles from the nearest roads and the chances of seeing another person were very remote. Sounds like a pretty dumb, life-threatening adventure, doesn't it? Not so! It was an awesome trip that presented some photographic challenges, as well as great photos.

Not once did I feel threatened by the bears, even though I was too close to focus on a couple of occasions. I left my macro and wide angle lenses at home, since everyone knows you have to use a long lens when photographing wild bears. Packing for the trip, with weight and luggage restrictions was the first challenge.

The adventure began in Kodiak, Alaska where I met the other members of the group. We would be spending the next three nights on the "Waters" which is a refurbished tugboat owned by Katmai Coastal Bear Tours. We left with the tide and made our way across the Shelikov Strait to Katmai National Park. The scenery here is breathtaking. The lush green mountains are topped with multi-colored ash from the Novarupta volcano. Glaciers are sprinkled throughout the area. Mists and low clouds add to the scene.

Our first stop was at a bay where we would hike about a mile to the rapids between two lakes. The bears have learned that the salmon can only navigate the rapids during rainstorms. They have also learned to kill everything that goes by in a killing frenzy and eat it later. It was a beautiful day, but had rained recently. The naturalist, Buck Wilde, felt we would have a good chance of seeing several bears.

This brings us to the safety issue. Bears are large animals and they can be very dangerous. When photographing bears at close range, you need to be with someone who knows and understands bear behavior and body language. You must be able to follow instructions and forego a good picture if it means a life -- yours or the bear's -- could be in danger. It helps if the bear specialist also knows something about photography. Buck filled the bill perfectly. He is a professional photographer, has worked with wildlife for many years and is very familiar with the bears in this area. He knew which bears had to be given a wide berth and which could be approached closely.

He said to take a medium length lens and one camera body plus a few rolls of film. We donned the hip waders and made our way across slippery rocks and through dense vegetation. This was the most challenging hike of the entire trip. With every step on the rocks, you knew you were going to fall. Once we reached the first lake, walking in the water along the shore was easiest. Those of us wearing photo vests with film in the lower pockets soon discovered we had wet film. The water was at the top of the hip waders! On the bear trail in the dense vegetation, we stayed in a tightly packed group and kept talking. A bear could be a couple of feet away and we wouldn't be able to see it. We did not want a sudden encounter.

Along the way we stopped to examine a pile of bear scat to see what it had been feeding on. To our dismay, we found the pad of a bear cub in the scat -- a reminder of the ways of nature. We went around a couple more bends in the bear trail and arrived at the rapids. Our first bear was about 10 feet away from us! It looked up quickly and went back to feeding on salmon. We could see about six bears, but from the body language of the bears we knew there were more behind the bushes and around the bend in the river. The light was very harsh and we were shooting into the sun. Photographically, it wasn't a very rewarding afternoon. However, the spot certainly had possibilities and it was worth the hike.

The next morning I was on deck before daylight and as it began to get light I could see something moving. It turned out to be bears that were running, playing, chasing fish, digging for clams, etc. While trying to wake my travel companion, I managed to wake up most of the crew on the boat. They took us to shore to photograph the bears. The tidal muck was awful and practically sucked the hip waders off with each step, but the photography was incredible. A variety of lenses and a tripod were used. The light varied from before sunrise, to bright sun, to bright overcast. The bears played and fished for several hours and you could photograph bears in any direction.

Many rolls of film went through the cameras on this wonderful morning. After we moved to a different spot, a bear went to investigate where we had been and then walked past us (20 feet away) to go into the bushes. We climbed a rock ledge to view two baby eagles before returning to the boat for a late breakfast. The biggest challenge at this spot was getting the tidal muck off the tripod legs. Buck came to our rescue.

At another bay, going to shore was very easy. The area was surrounded by beautiful mountains and topped with colorful ash. A glacier promised to be blue if the sun came out. The large valley was lush with sedges and wildflowers. The white sand beach was a long graceful C-curve. All we needed was a bear and they were plentiful. 15 to 20 were usually on the beach at one time when the tide was low. We spent a lot of time here. Unfortunately, the light was mostly overcast or it was raining.