Brown Bear, Fortress of the Bears, Admiralty Island, Alaska – Image 2759

Wednesday night (1-25-2012) Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) will be running a feature on Admiralty Island called “Fortress of the Bears” on “Nature”. Check your local listings for time. In support of this programming, I plan to post four weeks of brown bear images (first installment). Many people accuse me of never shooting in bad weather which is mostly true. This photo shows that even I sometimes photograph in miserable weather. I spent two days, last summer in and around Pack Creek on Admiralty Island photographing bears. There are only brown bears on Admiralty Island. I shot the image at Middle Creek just around the corner from Pack Creek in a pounding rain. My camera was on a tripod with the lens and camera in plastic bag with towels covering the plastic bags to soak up the rain. I would have usually shot this image under an umbrella, but did not have my umbrella with me at the time. The plastic bags and towels work OK except for a shoot lasting a long time. My thanks goes to Ronn Patterson on Dolphin Charters (www.dolphincharters.com) for hiring me as a photo leader on a week-long tour through Southeast Alaska on his boat, Delphinus, in 2011 and taking me to Pack Creek for this shot. Enjoy the photo and thanks for visiting. Camera body: D300, Lens: Nikkor 80-200mm F/4 1.4 tele extender, ISO 800 © Mark Kelley