Alaskan Coastal Brown Bear

Congratulations! This is the wildlife image of the week for the week ending 9/17/04!
D1x, 300-800, ISO160, 1/500 @ f5.6, incident.
This is one of my favourites from my recent Alaska trip with STL and shows the Alaskan coastal brown bear, oddly enough, on the Alaskan coast (who'd have thought?). This day we had the pleasure of a rollercoaster bush plane ride in the heavy winds (only felt a little ill on the way) south to a bay with a narrow beach (on which we landed) and a wide expanse of sand/mud flats and water filled channels. In these channels the bears were fishing for the fresh running Coho salmon or "silvers". Laying down in the wet sand I felt gave the best angle and produced a rather pleasing blurred fore and background. We couldn't really get on the "light side" of the bears without a risky deep water wading experience so I, for one, was grateful for the rather hazy light we were shooting into. Whilst shooting this, and other bears, I listened to the howls of the wolves from somewhere up the beach. This is a moment I shall not soon forget.

Excellent image. I like the head turned oriented to the light, and the pano type crop works excellent. Fish in mouth puts it over. Thanks for sharing.

wow !:shock:
agree with Dennis on the head facing the light..
I really like the sharpness and detail in this shot.
The crop is good too as well as the low angle
sounds like you had lots of fun

I don't think there was any need for you to get on the "light side" of the bear in this instance. This works for me just the way it is. Great job!

A fine shot! The headturn into the light, the fish and the falling water make for a very nice composition. A nicely crafted shot!

Excellent action here. Very well done!

This is a great shot, even the grey background works for it.

Stu

One of your best best shots I have seen John. This is great and will look wonderful blown up big. Sounds like you had a great trip. The shots being posted have been awesome. Keep em coming.

Excellent bear study John.

I like the monochrome"ness" with the only colour coming from the bear. Great stuff. Hope we see more from you....

This is superb John!! One of your best without a doubt. Excellent in every way.

John,

This is one of the best grizzly photos I have ever seen. I would LOVE to have this in my print series. One to be proud of. For what its worth...this would not be as strong an image IMO if you had more direct over the shoulder light on him!

Well done!

The action, composition, exposure, and sharpness in this picture are all perfect!

But there's still something that doesn't feel right to me. I think it's the flat light--while the flatness clearly helps the exposure, considering the direction of the light, it also desaturates the colour of the bear.

With the light nature gave you, this is as close to perfect as you can get, and I'd love to have it as my own.

-Paul

John - it's beautiful. I am going to Alaska next year and I would love to come back with something like this.

Love the action, love the colors, love the composition.

Rich

This is a great shot John. I really like the light on this guy--the salmon is a plus.

Steve

This is an absolutely stunning image Congratulations!!! The light is phenominal and the detail amazing In other words, I love it!! I brings tears to my eyes

Fabulous image. Wish it was mine...good job.

Fantastic wildlife image. could be a classic. certainly one of the best bear shots I've seen.

I love everything about this image. Almost looks like it could be a painting.

Thank you all very much, I really appreciate you all taking the time to make such kind comments.