Pouncing Bear

Grand Prize, Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Competition 2013

Exhibited twice at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC, USA, 2014-2015, 2015-2016

Cover, Smithsonian Exhibition Calendar 2016

Also displayed at the Smithsonian Museum Entrance as a 30-foot banner

365 days of waiting for the salmon run keenly whetted the brown bear’s appetite. Calories matter when you’re preparing for hibernation; and the brown bear planned to consume a plentitude. Tunnel vision blurred borders once his eyes locked on their target. Behavior changed, as his muscles moved in harmony to gain the momentum needed to pounce. The bear’s diligence is to be commended, considering the success rate for a catch is a mere 10%.

After seven days of zero sightings, we lucked upon a group of thirty bears in a creek. I crouched down in the frigid glacier water and struggled to catch my breath, as the water rose to my chest. Four hours later, on the verge of hypothermia, my shaking body fixated on a bear sprinting in my direction. We made eye contact, time froze and I captured the powerful image above. Indeed, an awe-inspiring moment.

Coastal Brown Bear, Katmai National Park, Alaska, 2012

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 500mm F/4, f/5.6, 1/1600s, ISO 800, RRS tripod