Gallery: Man & NaturePosted April 20, 20052,287 views14 comments
USA, Katmai National Park (AK)
Photographers and coastal brown bear (Ursus arctos)
Nikon D100, Nikkor AF 80-400 VR, ISO 200
Comments
14 comments
Comment posted by Robert Parnell on April 21, 2005 at 8:11 AM
Terrific shot here Stefano. The silhoutte works very well. I love the story here with the people element, and the gulls also add "another day at the shore" feel to the scene!
Registered on April 6, 2004, 32 Posts, 191 Comments
Comment posted by Nathan Buck on April 21, 2005 at 11:13 AM
Way nice Stefano. I love the silhouettes. This is just a very cool shot overall.
Nathan
Registered on November 1, 2003, 1101 Posts, 13589 Comments
Comment posted by George Hall, Jr on April 21, 2005 at 1:07 PM
Great shot!
Registered on July 11, 2004, 283 Posts, 2395 Comments
Comment posted by Kenneth Kijewski on April 21, 2005 at 3:23 PM
Very cool!!!!
Registered on February 17, 2004, 166 Posts, 3390 Comments
Comment posted by Michelle C. Parent on April 21, 2005 at 3:41 PM
Stefano,
This is a great story shot! I love it!
Registered on June 23, 2004, 453 Posts, 5551 Comments
Comment posted by Arthur Sevestre on April 21, 2005 at 6:29 PM
Wow... never saw something like this before! How close where those photographers to the bear? And how close were you? Amazing :s.
Graphically this works beautifully. The silhouettes are great! It's truly amazing how the bear doesn't seem to be bothered by all the people around!
Registered on November 1, 2003, 275 Posts, 888 Comments
Comment posted by Stefano Crosio on April 21, 2005 at 8:18 PM
Thank you very much everybody for your kind words.
Arthur, they were *really* close to the bear. Obviously there's some telephoto compression in the shot, but they were close. They had been dropped in that spot a couple of hours earlier by a Zodiac during low tide. The beach was brown bear galore: they were all over the place (including a mother with two beautiful spring cubs).
We were sitting on the sand on the opposite side and were not far away (probably 20 meters or so). Later in the day we had a mother and juvenile who caught a salmon and came to eat it right by where we were (they were 3/4 meters away). One of these days I'll post an image of that moment: it was unbelievable!
Many thanks again and ciao!
Stefano
Registered on February 8, 2004, 20 Posts, 33 Comments
Comment posted by Kent Staubus on April 21, 2005 at 10:40 PM
A great shot and an excellent example of simpler is better. The glittering sand really sets it off for me. Personally though, it seems foolish to me to be that close to large bears with cubs. I would not have done it. The bears showed no aggression at all, and there's never been an attack??? Even if that's so, I wouldn't have pushed it myself.
Kent in SD
Registered on November 11, 2003, 121 Posts, 2098 Comments
Comment posted by Stefano Crosio on April 22, 2005 at 10:38 AM
Kent,
Thank you for your comments.
On the bear safety issues, I should have done a better job at explaining the situation. Your concerns are right and sound advice.
Let me try to add some information to my account above in an effort to clarify.
This image was take in September last year, when salmon is so abundant in Katmai that bears pretty much only focus on catching and eating as much of it as they can in order to prepare for the winter.
So the bears pay very little attention to people around them, assuming obviously nobody does anything foolish (which in our case nobody did).
Obviously, the mother with the young cubs is a different story, but I should have specified that, although she was at the beach that day, she was much farther away from humans (just to give you an idea, I took a few shots of her and the cubs with a 500mm + TC 1.4x + the 1.5 cropping factor of the D100 and all of them need cropping!). In a different circumstance however we had a different mother bear with spring cubs who voluntarily approached at relatively close range, which was amazing.
With regard to the small group I was in, we were at all times with a local guide who runs a small camp in the Park and is absolutely familiar with the bears and their behavior patterns. I never, ever felt in danger at any time, although we often had bears very close to us. We never approached bears up close: they came to us. Some of them because they were curious, some others because they were seeking protection (sounds funny for such powerful animals, but that's what happened with the mother and the juvenile that came near us to eat their salmon in order to dissuade a big, old male to steal their meal!) None of the bears ever displayed any type of aggressive or menacing behavior toward us or other humans.
And one more thing that needs to be added is that coastal brown bears are very different (from a behavioral standpoint) from grizzlies (the brown bears that are found inland). They are generally much more tolerant of human presence and display a much less aggressive behavior. Apparently, this has mainly to do with easier access to abundant food sources and the fact that local guides and rangers make all possible efforts to educate visitors not to leave anything behind that can make the bears associate humans with food.
Well, I hope the above clarifies the situation: of the trips I have done, that (along with the mountain gorillas in Rwanda) really made me feel closely connected to such beautiful wildlife, as if in a sort of surreal Eden. Visiting Katmai is an unbelievable experience that (IMO) can hardly be beat in terms of number of bears that you generally see and feeling an integral part of their habitat.
Sorry for the long post!
Ciao,
Stefano
Registered on February 8, 2004, 20 Posts, 33 Comments
Comment posted by Doug Benner on April 27, 2005 at 5:34 AM
Wonderful image. Thanks for all the info. Very interesting!
Registered on December 8, 2003, 482 Posts, 1868 Comments
Comment posted by Ed Cordes on May 1, 2005 at 8:07 PM
Stefano, this is wonderful. It brings back many good memories of our time last July in Hallo Bay, Katmai Nat'l park. You are right, te bear do seek protection from us humans. This is a great shot. The silhouette effect is perfect.
Registered on November 1, 2003, 451 Posts, 3366 Comments
Comment posted by Stefano Crosio on May 2, 2005 at 7:15 PM
Thank you Doug and Ed.
Ed, yes! This is in fact Hallo Bay. Pretty impressive place, apart from the camp and its management which (IMO) leave a lot to be desired.
Ciao,
Stefano
Registered on February 8, 2004, 20 Posts, 33 Comments
Comment posted by Sven Bernert on May 5, 2005 at 6:35 AM
Stefano, this is simply beautiful! My only nit would be the horizon line running through the people and the bear but I guess under these conditions on a flat beach there is not a lot one can do to avoid it.
Thanks also for explaining the shooting conditions in detail, this is always very interesting reading. My first thought was that - being that close to the bear - I'd have wet my panties immediately but after you explanation I feel better
Best and thanks for sharing such a great image with us,
Sven
Registered on November 1, 2003, 14 Posts, 125 Comments
Comment posted by Stefano Crosio on May 5, 2005 at 8:19 PM
Sven,
Thank you very much for your nice words. And yes, the beach was totally flat and since there were several bears all around us, we were pretty much stuck in that location - so, not much of a choice for a different angle!
All the best,
Stefano
Registered on February 8, 2004, 20 Posts, 33 Comments
Comments
14 commentsNathan
This is a great story shot! I love it!
Graphically this works beautifully. The silhouettes are great! It's truly amazing how the bear doesn't seem to be bothered by all the people around!
Arthur, they were *really* close to the bear. Obviously there's some telephoto compression in the shot, but they were close. They had been dropped in that spot a couple of hours earlier by a Zodiac during low tide. The beach was brown bear galore: they were all over the place (including a mother with two beautiful spring cubs).
We were sitting on the sand on the opposite side and were not far away (probably 20 meters or so). Later in the day we had a mother and juvenile who caught a salmon and came to eat it right by where we were (they were 3/4 meters away). One of these days I'll post an image of that moment: it was unbelievable!
Many thanks again and ciao!
Stefano
Kent in SD
Thank you for your comments.
On the bear safety issues, I should have done a better job at explaining the situation. Your concerns are right and sound advice.
Let me try to add some information to my account above in an effort to clarify.
This image was take in September last year, when salmon is so abundant in Katmai that bears pretty much only focus on catching and eating as much of it as they can in order to prepare for the winter.
So the bears pay very little attention to people around them, assuming obviously nobody does anything foolish (which in our case nobody did).
Obviously, the mother with the young cubs is a different story, but I should have specified that, although she was at the beach that day, she was much farther away from humans (just to give you an idea, I took a few shots of her and the cubs with a 500mm + TC 1.4x + the 1.5 cropping factor of the D100 and all of them need cropping!). In a different circumstance however we had a different mother bear with spring cubs who voluntarily approached at relatively close range, which was amazing.
With regard to the small group I was in, we were at all times with a local guide who runs a small camp in the Park and is absolutely familiar with the bears and their behavior patterns. I never, ever felt in danger at any time, although we often had bears very close to us. We never approached bears up close: they came to us. Some of them because they were curious, some others because they were seeking protection (sounds funny for such powerful animals, but that's what happened with the mother and the juvenile that came near us to eat their salmon in order to dissuade a big, old male to steal their meal!) None of the bears ever displayed any type of aggressive or menacing behavior toward us or other humans.
And one more thing that needs to be added is that coastal brown bears are very different (from a behavioral standpoint) from grizzlies (the brown bears that are found inland). They are generally much more tolerant of human presence and display a much less aggressive behavior. Apparently, this has mainly to do with easier access to abundant food sources and the fact that local guides and rangers make all possible efforts to educate visitors not to leave anything behind that can make the bears associate humans with food.
Well, I hope the above clarifies the situation: of the trips I have done, that (along with the mountain gorillas in Rwanda) really made me feel closely connected to such beautiful wildlife, as if in a sort of surreal Eden. Visiting Katmai is an unbelievable experience that (IMO) can hardly be beat in terms of number of bears that you generally see and feeling an integral part of their habitat.
Sorry for the long post!
Ciao,
Stefano
Ed, yes! This is in fact Hallo Bay. Pretty impressive place, apart from the camp and its management which (IMO) leave a lot to be desired.
Ciao,
Stefano
Thanks also for explaining the shooting conditions in detail, this is always very interesting reading. My first thought was that - being that close to the bear - I'd have wet my panties immediately but after you explanation I feel better
Best and thanks for sharing such a great image with us,
Sven
Thank you very much for your nice words. And yes, the beach was totally flat and since there were several bears all around us, we were pretty much stuck in that location - so, not much of a choice for a different angle!
All the best,
Stefano