Cyclists and a Bear

Gallery: Man & FaunaPosted March 10, 2012825 views9 comments

Hi everyone! I took this photo in Waterton Lakes National Park in October of 2010. Definitely one of the more busy times of the year for bears in Waterton as they gorge themselves on the last of the berries and anything else they can find before winter. We had seen a ton of bears that day, in fact I think I was actually photographing another bear as this one popped out! I can't help but wonder what was going through the cyclists minds as they came around the corner only to see a big black bear standing in their path and staring at them! Don't worry, the bear just looked at them for a minute then ended up calmly walking off into the woods

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I think this picture tells a story about bear and human interaction. While there is lots of wilderness areas in our National Parks where wildlife can exist without seeing any (or many) people, some bears like grazing close to the roads and get used to all the cars and activity. I'm glad in Waterton there are very low speed limits in these sections...we've had them pop out right in front of us! I gotta say I'm not lining up for a bicyle ride through this part of the park any time soon, though!

Thanks for viewing!

Nikon D70s
Tamron SP 70-210mm @ 210mm
ISO 400
1/640sec @ f/2.8

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by shirley gaisser on March 11, 2012 at 1:03 PM

If that's not motivation turn around and go the other way, I don't know what is. Nice shot.

Registered on May 30, 2011, 64 Posts, 72 Comments

Comment posted by Eirini Pajak on March 11, 2012 at 5:49 PM

Great moment you caught! Beautiful lighting & the composition is great!

Registered on December 13, 2011, 216 Posts, 1671 Comments

Comment posted by Walt Sterneman on March 12, 2012 at 9:06 PM

Very nice Jenaya. This really tells a story. The only thing I wish is that you had closed the lens down to f/11 or 16 to get the cyclists in better focus.

Registered on March 24, 2010, 73 Posts, 1268 Comments

Comment posted by Rebecka on March 12, 2012 at 10:12 PM

This image would make anyone wonder: What happened next!?

Registered on February 5, 2009, 170 Posts, 924 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Jones on March 12, 2012 at 11:33 PM

Excellent "catch"! Right place - right time for you. I wonder if the biders were thinking the same? This does an excellent job of telling the story despite the humans being somewhat out-of-fucus. They are still quite clear to the readers.

Registered on April 18, 2007, 953 Posts, 6435 Comments

Comment posted by Jenaya Launstein on March 13, 2012 at 2:24 PM

Thanks for the comments everyone!

I know a few of you wanted some more depth of field to have the bikers in focus, but my dad suggested to shoot at f/2.8 so that the people would be completely unrecognizable in case of publication.

Registered on February 8, 2011, 254 Posts, 1302 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on March 14, 2012 at 11:15 AM

Congrats on the excellent WP!
Very nice image and great commentary.
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by John Launstein on March 14, 2012 at 5:13 PM

Hey! Congratulations, Jenaya! I remember looking through your images on your camera later in the evening when you captured this and thinking it had a lot of potential. I know we pretty much always need to show our subject's eyes, but in this case there's a wonderful tension in the image, and you know the bear's eyes are locked on the cyclists, and vice versa. You were simply there to record the moment, and I think you did a great job and even created an excellent comp in the process.

Great work...and congrats again on the WP!

Registered on April 5, 2011, 223 Posts, 1193 Comments

Comment posted by Kory Lidstrom on April 3, 2012 at 1:24 AM

Very cool image. It does tell a great story. Well done.

Registered on November 19, 2008, 49 Posts, 1035 Comments