Grizzly bear, National Petroleum Reserve, Brooks range, Alaska. Canon 1Ds Mark III, 100-400 IS, 1/1000 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400, hand held.
On our 10 day river trip along the Nigu and Etivluk, we saw two grizzly bears, both of which upon noticing us, took off across the tundra. This is the kind of reaction one likes to see when encountering a bear in the wild. Well, sort of. Photographing bears in the arctic is quite unlike photographing bears in regions of Alaska where strong habituation to humans has been in place for some time–i.e., locations like Denali Park, Katmai Brooks, and a few others. In the arctic, where human presence is scant, when a wild bear either sees or catches scent of a human, they are off running (often anyway). In this case, we spotted the bear from a distance, walking adjacent to the river. We pulled over, sat still, and quietly waited with cameras ready. After grabbing a few frames, the bear saw us and split. At 400mm, it is still a decent shot of a wild bear. I did not have the time, nor was the situation optimal for getting my 500mm out of the dry bag.
Grizzly bear, National Petroleum Reserve, Brooks range, Alaska. Canon 1Ds Mark III, 100-400 IS, 1/1000 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400, hand held.
