Our trip to Alaska was meant to be about bears catching salmon in the streams. At least that was the plan. The image in my head before we ever arrived was one I’m sure many photographers imagine: the bears leaping towards you in the water, mouths open, fish mid-air. But when we reached camp, we quickly learned the salmon hadn’t arrived yet.
The streams were quiet. Empty. Like the bears, we were waiting for the fish. And while we waited, we had to shift our expectations and work harder to create original, memorable images of the bears as they really were in that moment—wandering the beaches looking for clams, resting in the grass, and simply being bears. This image came from one of those quieter moments.
A young bear wandered off from the activity and eventually lay down in the grass, settling in as if she had nowhere else to be and all the time in the world. There was no urgency in her movement, no performance. She folded into the ground naturally, her body relaxed, eyes soft but aware. I moved slowly towards a piece of driftwood and propped my lens on it, using it to steady the lens while I waited, knowing this wasn’t a moment to rush or reposition. This was a moment to wait.
I stayed still and watched. Watched the rise and fall of her breathing. The occasional twitch of an ear. Bears may appear calm, but when they move, they move fast. Head shakes happen in an instant and are over before you fully register what’s happening. The fast shutter speed of 1/2000 gave me confidence that if something did occur—even unexpectedly—I’d have a chance to freeze it. Shooting wide open at f2.8 allowed the background to soften into a wash of color, keeping the focus on her expression and the texture of her fur, while the higher ISO of 2000 was a necessary trade-off for speed and responsiveness due to the cloudy overcast day.
I wasn’t waiting for a specific behavior. I wasn’t anticipating anything dramatic. I was simply present. Then it happened. A head shake. Just one.
This image came out of the camera in good shape and only needed a few minor adjustments. Beyond basic tweaks to whites, blacks, contrast, highlights, and shadows, I created a few masks to even out the highlights and shadows and removed some distracting blades of grass behind her head. This approach reflects how I teach photography during my workshops. My goal is for everyone to learn how to expose correctly in camera so you spend less time editing and more time “Clickin”.
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