First post-Brown Bear-Katmai NP, AK

Dick
Thanks for posting in FFM. I am sorry to hear that you did not get the opportunities you were hoping for. Thats a bummer..

I had a chance on bears in AK about two years ago. I found exposure tricky in the sun, and you nailed it here, without burning up the ear tips. Your image is very sharp and I like seeing bears in the water.

I am not sure exactly about the comp, the space at the top especially. Maybe this is for text.. It just left me wondering how it would look in horizontal with the bear looking across the frame..

Again, perfect exposure and very sharp. Thanks for posting..

Hey Dick

Is this from Brooks? The bear looks very familiar to me. if so, it also explains the angle .. a little less steep would be nice, but that's hard at Brooks. Simiarily, Dennis' coments sum up my feelings here .. perfect exposure, but I think a horizontal image would have worked better here. His head just feels cramped to me.

Cheers

Carl

Hi Dick,

Welcome to NSN and the FFM forum. Sorry you did not get what you wanted at Brooks. I did not even get there due to bad weather when we were there.

I too would like to see more room to the right of the bears head with a horizontal format, but you really nailed the exposure-not an easy thing to do with a wet bear in the sun! The eye is clearly visible, a frequent problem when photographing bears and the detail in the face is very good.

Looks like you did pretty well given the conditions on this one. i might crop a bit off the top but a very nice shot!

Nice and sharp and great detail. I'd agree with others on a horizontal, but otherwise a good shot.

This was shot under some difficult conditions at Brooks Camp. The pickings were very slim at the end of August. Nonetheless the park sdtaff was overly restrictive.

Since horizontal was not possible, I think the shot works a bit better as a square unless used for editorial purposes where the there is room for text at the top.

Dick Ginkowski wrote:The pickings were very slim at the end of August. Nonetheless the park sdtaff was overly restrictive.

I can surely agree with you about the restrictive staff. I haven't been there in years and from what I hear it has only gotten worse. I once watched a young ranger blow her whistle and demand that a fly fisherman come to her side of the river from the other side when a bear came walking down the bank. Trouble was it was over his head and he waded in and over his waders and dog paddled to her side. Lucky there was no disaster. There are now many "day trippers" coming there that crowd the area and really have no business there. I actually watched a New York City woman wet herself while we waited for a bear to move off the trail!!!!!!!!!!

It sure isn't any kind of wilderness experience anymore but I still love the bears though.... no way around that

Hi Dick,

Nice to see you posting here. Nice shot; I like my subjects large in the frame, which you have certainly achieved here; good eye detail also, which is often difficult with these bears. For printing, I think I would crop this to a square format, but this is only my preference.

I'm thinking about visiting Brooks next year and I'd be interested in your comments about the Park Staff if you would care to elaborate.

Best wishes

Dick,

Sorry you were disappointed but this is a cool image. A little off the top as EJ suggested.

This is a tidy look at one wet bear!! Very nicely exposed and very sharp.