Wildlife Photography_ From Snapshots to Great Shots - Laurie Excell [51]
Days 5 and 6
The next day, just as predicted, brings rain showers, but our plan is definitely still on. After breakfast, we suit up and head over to the lake to see if Perry’s prediction was correct. I had complete faith, because Perry has been living and working in Katmai National Park for nearly three decades and has seldom been wrong in his weather and animal behavior predictions.
Sure enough, at the lower lake we can see the water rushing from across the lake. We walk back to the boat to get our kayaks and portage them to the lake. The crossing goes smoothly, and there are bears at the river on our arrival. A sow with her 1-year-old cubs are working the river (Figure 9.18). Mom is catching fish while the cubs are vying for the scraps (Figure 9.19) they can steal. We enjoy a couple of hours watching and photographing the family.
Figure 9.18 A sow fishes with her cubs close at hand while they steal morsels and learn how to fish from mom.
Figure 9.19 One cub devours fish eggs it stole from its mom, while the other digs under a rock searching for scraps.
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Note
Not only have I come to rely on the staff at the lodge for getting me and my groups to within photographable distance safely, but I have come to trust their intuition and enjoy their friendship. Having top guides enables me to deliver the goods to my groups, and these guys go the extra mile to make our visits as fun and productive as possible.
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The sow becomes nervous at one point and heads off into the brush with her cubs, indicating that there is likely another bear in the area. A short time later, a big old boar appears and proceeds to sit at the river’s edge watching for fish (Figure 9.20). He soon grows tired and lies down to take a nap. Shortly thereafter, he awakes, watches the water for a few minutes, and then disappears back into the brush. Before long, the two cubs reappear without mom. She is certainly close by but not in view. We enjoy another several minutes with the cubs working the river as they try their paws at fishing (Figure 9.21). They keep an eye on us, but it is more out of curiosity than fear.
Figure 9.20 A big boar arrives at the river.
Figure 9.21 A pair of 1-year-old cubs pause in their fishing to check us out.
We are confined to a small patch of real estate with the bears all around. They are in the river, the lake, and occasionally peak through the bushes at us before disappearing upriver again (Figure 9.22). Being near bears means being aware at all times. A bear can pop up anywhere, anytime, and they do!
Figure 9.22 Photographers line the river bank photographing a pair of fishing bears.
A week in Alaska photographing coastal brown bears goes all too quickly. It’s not long before we find we’re repacking all our gear, saying our fond farewells to the bears and the great staff at the lodge, and boarding our floatplanes to head back to Kodiak and civilization. With a quick stop at the fish factory to process and ship our halibut, before we know it we are back in the Kodiak airport awaiting our flight to Anchorage and then on home. After 2,000 plus air miles and 12 hours of travel, I touch down in Portland and wait until the next great adventure calls.
There truly are no words to explain the feeling of being out in nature with these giant creatures and having them know you are there, accept your presence, and go on about their daily lives while presenting you with the greatest gift of photographing them as they are.
I hope this little glimpse of a real-world photo adventure has piqued your interest in wildlife photography even more and that you will make the what, where, when, and how of your wildlife photo adventure of a lifetime come true.
Chapter Assignments
Take time to work through the assignments before moving on to the last chapter in which I take you on another adventure to photograph the birds of South Texas.
Get to Know Your Lenses