Jul 29, 2009 | Wildlife Photography
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A family of four showed up today, the very definition of characters in the fur. Mom is great, works hard to keep the kids and herself fed. She has three two year old cubs, one is a handful, one pretty calm and the last afraid of its own shadow.
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The oldest seen here on the right looking cute and innocent is anything but. He is a handful now and will be a pain in the ass when an adult. Already in life, he has mastered stealing salmon from his mom. Competition between cubs can be intense but this kid takes it to a new level. He even tries to steal from the males at the falls. That could be fatal but it doesn’t seem to stop him.
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What makes him even more a character is when he steals some fish, he shows it off. Seriously, he hams it up for what seems like the crowd on the platform but probably more likely it’s to rub it in the faces of his siblings. He’s a pistol!
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Then there is the smallest bear. The crowd pleasure because everyone felt it was a runt and not likely to live. Don’t think that’s the case but it didn’t stop all the ahhssss. All three cubs are in the middle of their molt, too bad because I bet by this time next month, they will be filling out with a gorgeous coat. Hope they stick around, they are fun!
Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jul 29, 2009 | Wildlife Photography
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I take my vacation seriously! We are in total relax mode. We get up, mosey in for breakfast, upload images (and post a couple) and then after our early dinner, we head up to the falls where we stand for 6-7hrs and enjoy the bears. This works great as most folks leave just as we’re arriving to everything. The plan was working great until….
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We reached the falls today to find the bears just staring at the water. Why? The salmon run stopped. Yeap, for the third time in a row, we’re at Brooks when there are no mass esof salmon jumping. Oh well, means we’ll have to comeback again. Hot Dogs!
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That’s OK, there are plenty of bears to watch and photograph. Most of the bears present now are full of character that they more then make up for no jumping salmon. It also gives me an opportunity to explore something I think I like, need more time to shoot and play before sharing but I think by accident I have a new approach.
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And the wind, it hasn’t stopped, still! While not quite so nasty as the last couple of days, it still has Lake Naknek all a foam. With the salmon still spooled up in the lake, the bears are out fishing in the lake, finding the schools as you can see by standing up and looking. They are such characters!
Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-17e (except last image) on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jul 28, 2009 | Wildlife Photography
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The big boys in full coats are rare at the falls today. A couple of the big boys while present have shed their beautiful winter coats and now are sleek eating machines. Of course that’s what they are supposed to be, but they just don’t have that classic bear look to them. This bad boy is an exception so I kept an eye on him throughout the evening. It was dark to be shooting action, this photo taken at 1/45 (ISO 100, I don’t crank up ISO). The one shot shooting of the D3x requires working Peak of Action which caught the head sharp, but the salmon is soft.
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The wind didn’t stop. During the night it blew and blew, some saying 70mph gusts. Other than some leaves falling on the tent, didn’t bother us. But it did kick up Naknek Lake into surfing conditions. And who took advantage of it? That’s right, the bears. We spotted this griz walking the shore and doing just that as we walked back to camp. I wasn’t able to get on the beach to get the surfing shot, the bear was too close and the Park Service keeps folks at a minimum of 50 yards from a bear. Oh well, the week is young and there are more pixels to fill. mtc
Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jul 28, 2009 | Wildlife Photography
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After the mile walk up to the platform, it was great to put the tripod down and have Grizzly Bears in the viewfinder again. It’s been 9 months, too long and 8yrs since being at Brooks. Some things don’t change much, falls look the same, salmon though obviously not the same ones look the same and even two bears look familiar other than fatter and with a couple more scars.
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The bears were catching salmon with little effort with 14 bears at the falls this evening. Believe it or not, but being on top of the falls isn’t the prime spot. The bears up there have the #3 & #4 spots, they have to work to catch their meals. While the shooting was hot, I had a cold start. I’m a bit disappointed at the ethics and common courtesy not being shown by other shooters on the platform. I spent my first hour without even able to set up my tripod and shoot, some folks didn’t get the memo about limited space, closing up tripods and remembering to smile, they’re not at the office but with griz!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DMLBECG24236.swf, 500, 402 [/swf]
After looking through my previous Brooks bear images, I decided to change up a few things this time. The first was I changed from A WB to Cloudy on the D3x and I really like the results for these conditions much better. I also decided to focus in more on the humorous moments between the bears. This one cracks me up, the one bear relishing its catch, the other drooling over what he can’t have. It was a great first evening. mtc
Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jul 27, 2009 | Wildlife Photography
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Oh man, is it windy! With gusts up to 50-70mph, we couldn’t land on Naknek Lake, but rather on Brooks Lake. So it was a new logistical challenge. Not for us, but for Katmai Air who being pros, had it all worked out. They bussed us down to the bridge, it was open so we crossed, checked in at the Visitor Center for the campground (made a new friend, HI Zac!) and then headed into the lodge for lunch.
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Sharon couldn’t wait to get camp set up. With it being 1/2 mile away, the Park Service makes available these cool carts to get your gear to camp. With all the gear, it took three carts to get all the gear down to campground. No, Sharon didn’t pull the cart, the guys took them down.
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But by her reaction, you’d think she did! Na, she was happy because the new tent went up without a hitch. With all three tents up and all gear stored, cameras are out and we’re heading off to the falls. We already had a couple of bears at camp so she has her wish, camping with bears. Keep in mind, I’m on vacation so the posts will be on the humorous side :)
Jul 27, 2009 | Wildlife Photography
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One of the benefits of flying out of Mammoth or Reno is Horizon Air who serves complimentary wine & ales. After seeing so many blogs by my good friend McNally with his Starbucks on the seat tray, when the light hit the fine plastic glass (great for a nice Merlot), I had to make a click. I wanted to play with the light more (like a white card behind the glass) but the plane turned and the shaft disappeared. Light does that.
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Traveling to AK and making flights to out of the way places like King Salmon or Brooks, padding the schedule is a must because of weather delays. And when the delays occur, you’re glad you have the padding. When there are no delays, you have to sit around the time your planned into the schedule. So, we found some power, plugged in the computers, put our feet up and watched a movie while waiting for our flight out to King Salmon.
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Once in King Salmon, the great folks at Katmai Air picked us and our stuff up at the airport and took us over to their facilities. There we weigh in, us, our carry on and check luggage before boarding the float plane to Brooks Camp. I’m not about to confess to the weights, let’s just say we had more than the average camper heading to Brooks. Yeah, we’ll be camping with the bears. mtc
