Alaska Photo Graphics

Blueberry Bear, Denali National Park, Alaska

This well-published photo has taken on the name of "Blueberry Bear." After years of photographing grizzly bears, the encounter with this cooperative bear remains unrivaled.

On a cloudy, overcast day, a colleague and I were watching this bear bathe in a stream near the Denali National Park road. She soon walked over to a blueberry patch and began eating berries. The pattern and texture on her fur is from the water. Seemingly undisturbed and appearing to enjoy being a model, the bear sat upright and posed for perhaps 15 minutes.

In case you’re wondering, I was about 40 feet from the bear but right next to my vehicle. If you look closely, you can see blueberry leaves on the bear’s lip; some have mistaken these for teeth at a quick glance. I shot a number of rolls of film, but due to an error in labeling the film type I ended up with mostly underexposed frames—which nearly gave me a heart attack at the light table. (That was the end of my use of bulk loading film!) However, one roll of film was labeled correctly and I salvaged a few nice frames.