Cover of Alaska Magazine – Image 2835

Alaska Magazine ran my image of brown bear at Pack Creek for cover story. The following is the caption they asked me to write. Photographing brown bears at Pack Creek on Admiralty Island is a tough shoot. There are easier places to get bear photos like Anan Creek, Brooks Camp, and McNiel River. But I like the look of the Pack Creek tidal flats.The US Forest Service who manages the area has just two small spots for the visiting public to view the action. One is on a sandy spit of land close to the creek, and the other spot is back in the old growth forest in a tree blind. I consider the spit the best spot, but when the tide is out the bears fishing the creek can be hundreds of yards away–an almost impossible shot even with a huge telephoto lens. I figure in an eight to ten hour day at the spit, if I am lucky, I will get 20 to 30 minutes of good photographic opportunities. Basically, the bears have to come to the spit. Since the wait is long and the opportunity short, one must be ready to maximize the moment. It is lot of pressure not to the miss the shot. It was just such a point in time when this brown bear crested a ridge of tall grass just 30 to 40 feet away from the spit. I was on the tripod focusing fast. The background was nice…mist and out of focus ocean. This bear was walking and then suddenly stood on its hind legs checking something out that I was unaware of. I shot maybe three frames on the motor drive and the bear dropped down in the tall grass and was gone. After eight hours of waiting, that was my fleeting moment for success. I was content. The wait had been worth it. Additionally, I will be one of the two photo leaders on a week-long trip (August 20-August 28,2013) through Southeast Alaska on board the 50-foot custom trawler “Delphinus” captained by my good friend, Ronn Patterson. The trip starts in Juneau and ends up in Wrangell. The trip will visit Anan Creek, Pack Creek, Tracy Arm and the whales waters of Fredrick Sound. For more information contact Ronn at trips@dolphincharters.com or check out their website at www.dolphincharters.com. This image appears as my May image in my 2014 Juneau Alaska Calendar now celebrating its 20th year of publication. Thank you for visiting. Camera body: D300, lens: Nikkor 70-200mm, digital capture © Mark Kelley