Tag Archives: Grizzly Bears

Grizzly Bear photos

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Alaska brown bear photo

I’ll compile a few older bear photo blogs into a collection here for you. Easier to review if you’re interested

Brown bear (Ursus arctos), at Hallo Bay, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska.
Brown bear (Ursus arctos), at Hallo Bay, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Just returned from a week on the Katmai coast photographing brown bears. This was a new trip for me this year; I’d not been over to this specific location, or at this time of year, previously.

It was a grand trip; flying out of Kodiak, and spending a week on a boat along the coast, shooting bears in gorgeous soft summer light. My personal photography priority for the trip was bears in the landscape. I also wanted some cool “behavioral” photos, which included bears clamming at low tide, sparring with one another, and even mating. Cool stuff to shoot.

Shooting mid-summer in Alaska requires a great deal of flexibility; if the weather is clear and sunny, the best light (in this area) is at 9:30pm – 11pm, and 5:00am – 6:00am. So by the time we’d get back from a shoot, it might well be after midnight. Getting back up at 4:30am to shoot again is a rough gig. On the other hand, if the skies are overcast, we’d shift to a more routine schedule, and head out around 8am.

Switching back and forth from one schedule to the next, day to day, is hard and extremely tiresome. I slept pretty well when I got home.

And, speaking of getting home, a good tip is to make sure your luggage doesn’t get left on the boat when you fly back to Kodiak – especially if the specific piece of luggage holds your wallet and ID.

An adult grizzly bear opens its mouth wide, teeth bared, Katmai National Park, Alaska.

OK – all the whining about ‘no bears’ brings us back to the grizzly. This adult male was kind of enough to give me a few cool poses, of which I think this is one of my favorites. There’s little more to be said other than ‘bears rock’.

4 Grizzly Bears

A digital composite of a grizzly bear sow and cub, flipped and doubled.

While I’m going through my recent images, I processed this one and thought I’d post it for kicks. It’s a simple computer trick, which even a cursory look unveils. All I did here was copy the image, flip it horizontally, and paste it alongside the original. I got a split second to shoot this scene, as the bears didn’t hold the position very long – another bear came by and the cub backed away from his nonchalant mum. I was thinking about the composite when I took the frame, remembering the shot I made a number of years back (on this page).

I don’t do a lot of this kind of photoshop trickery, but sometimes it’s fun. I’m interested to hear if folks like this image or not.

Brown bears Playing

2 adult brown bears (Ursus arctos) play together in an embrace. Hallo Bay in June/July is a great time to see and photograph bear behavior like this.
2 adult brown bears playing (Ursus arctos) together in an embrace. Hallo Bay in June/July is a great time to see and photograph bear behavior like this.

Another photo from this past summer when I led a photo tour to Hallo Bay and the coast of Katmai National Park and Preserve here in Alaska. I’ve been photographing brown bears for many years now, and return to the Alaskan Peninsula every summer to watch and photograph these creatures. They’re simply an awesome animal to see, whether its up close and personal like this, or from a distant ridge on a mountain hike somewhere.

I intentionally picked late June for this particular tour with the hope of catching some interaction between the bears, and especially mating behavior. Brown bear breeding season is anywhere from late May through mid-July, with some exceptions even being later. Generally, early summer is the time for brown bears’ breeding season.

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Grizzly bear charging

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Hey Folks,

They say 3 is a lucky number – so here’s my third grizzly bear photo in a row. This was one of the prettiest grizzly bears I’ve seen, a really light blond color, with darker bands around the lower legs and face – simply a beautiful animal. I spent a lot of time shooting this bear, and got a number of runs like this, the bear coming directly at me, great light, nice background – what’s there to not like?

So what exactly is going on here?

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Grizzly Bears in Fall – A Photo Tour

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Grizzly bear, or brown bear, in fall foliage, Katmai National Park, Alaska.

Fat Bears in the Fall.

Updated Jan, 2026

That 2010 photo tour idea I mentioned below? It happened. And it’s been happening every fall since.

This last year’s trip wrapped up a few weeks ago and it was one of the better ones. The group was solid, the weather cooperated more than it usually does, and the bears delivered. We had consistent action throughout the week, with bears fishing, sparring, and doing all the things that make these trips worth the long days.

Everyone came home with keepers. A few people nailed shots that’ll anchor their portfolios for years. That’s the goal, and it doesn’t always come together this cleanly, so you appreciate it when it does.

The format has evolved over the years but the core remains the same. Small group, remote camp, long hours on the water and along the banks. No crowds, no viewing platforms, no competing for position with forty other photographers. Just bears and fall color and the kind of quiet that only exists when you’re a float plane ride from the nearest road. I’m already booking for next fall. If this kind of trip interests you, reach out sooner than later. These fill up.

Sorry for the delay (again) in posting here. I’ve been busy the last 2 weeks, trying to photograph grizzly bears. I just returned, 24 hours ago, from a trip to Katmai National Park, where I focused on trying to get some grizzly bear photos that were different to what I’d shot in the past. Here’s the first of what hopefully won’t be too many that you get bored with them.

Yes, it’s true – I took some time out to detour away from Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, when I promised myself not to – but the change did me great! One of the things I really wanted to focus on

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Grizzly Bear, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

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A grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) on the tundra in Chitistone Pass, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks

I apologize for the long delays in posting here – it’s been busy this summer, with backpacking trips, and I really haven’t taken the photos I was hoping to, either. Either smoke from numerous wildfires, bad timing, or bad weather have made the summer not a great one for me, photographically, so far. Hopefully that’ll change a little as fall approaches.

This is a grizzly bear that I’ve observed in the Skolai Pass the last few years – I saw him as a younger, immature or subadult, in 2007, again last year and this year back in July.

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Say no to Aerial Predator Extermination in Alaska

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Grizzly bear sow and cub, nuzzling, Katmai National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

I read yesterday afternoon of a couple of pieces of legislation currently under consideration in Alaska that concern me greatly. Bill SB 176 and bill HB 348 are proposals by the Alaska Board of Game that prepare for a mandate by the Board of Game to pursue what they call “aerial predator control programs” of wolves, brown bears and wolverines. SB 176 is an attempt to give the Board of Game free reign over the decision making process, with no requisite consideration of input from the scientific community – i.e., if the folks on the Board feel like mandating aerial shooting, or den killings of wolf pups, they need show no concern or evidence of supporting scientific study. HB 348 is a proposal to shift wildlife to a category they call “public assets”, which includes minerals, oil, and so forth, effectively removing them from public voice. This means the Board of Game can then make decisions such as aerial shooting with no input from or responsibility to the people of Alaska. I’ve written to local legislators here in Alaska on this issue, and I thought I’d post an amalgam of my letters here.

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Grizzly bear photo, Denali National Park, Alaska

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Grizzly bear, Denali National Park, Alaska.

Grizzly Bears of the Denali Tundra

Few animals reign over a landscape like the grizzly bear does the Alaskan tundra. They are awesome in every sense of the word. Even for those of us who have spent decades in the backcountry, seeing a grizzly remains the definitive Alaskan experience.

While Katmai National Park offers high-density viewing, Denali National Park provides a different thrill: seeing bears roaming the vast, open interior. However, for the serious photographer, Denali can be a lesson in frustration.

The Photographer’s Dilemma in Denali

Denali is a unique challenge. Particularly for photographing grizzly bears. You are close to incredible opportunities, but the logistics often get in the way. Most sightings happen from the park shuttle buses, which aren’t built for photographers. You are often shooting through glass or from angles you can’t control.

This leads many professionals to skip Denali, yet the draw remains. There are very few places on earth where you can find grizzly bears moving across such a massive, unobstructed stage.

Ethics and Regulations in the Backcountry

When I am hiking or backpacking in the Wrangells or Denali, I rarely set out to photograph grizzlies. The risk-to-reward ratio is rarely in the photographer’s favor.

Denali regulations require a 300-yard distance from bears. Photographing them in Katmai is much easier, and often results in better images, because we can be so much closer. Even with a long telephoto lens, that is too far for a professional-grade shot. Most decent photos require being within 60 or 70 yards. That’s a distance that is both illegal and unsafe when you are on the ground. When a bear comes over the horizon, the goal is safety and respect, not the shutter button.

The “Quirky Wise Old Bear”: A Backcountry Encounter

A few years ago, while coming down off a high ridge in the Denali backcountry, a friend spotted a massive grizzly. Easily the largest I’ve seen outside of Katmai. The wind was howling, and the bear hadn’t yet caught our scent.

I stood up, signaled our presence, and watched the bear’s reaction. He didn’t flee. He gave us a look that felt almost comical, as if he knew exactly how ridiculous we looked huddling in the wind.

He quartered up the hill and passed us at about 50 yards. We moved on, only to realize we were both headed toward the same valley. My friends thought we were being stalked; in reality, we were just sharing the same route. We spent the next hour climbing and changing direction to give him the space he deserved.

The expressions that bear gave us were beautiful—a wise, old animal knowingly in charge. I didn’t take a single picture of him. Some moments are better lived than captured.

Alaska brown bear chasing salmon, Katmai National Park, Alaska.

Bear Encounters in Alaska: Perspectives on Bear Attacks and Wilderness Risk

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Grizzly bear, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska
Young male grizzly bear on the tundra in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

Bear Attack in Wyoming

I’ve been reading a little about a recent case of a bear attack, this time in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Fortunately, the fellow who was mauled is alive. Here’s one version of the story.

A lot of discussion has focused on this incident on various nature photography forums. I’m always particularly interested in the subject because I spend so much time photographing bears. I’ve had a few encounters that caught my attention. Much of that discussion revolves around the potential for this kind of thing to be a vehicle for new, tighter regulations brought into place by the National Parks’ Service, placing ever tighter restrictions on photographers and the activities they engage.

My Experience

I’ve been photographing bears in the wild a long time. Probably longer than most folks. I don’t know all there is about grizzly bears, but I do know more than most. I spend weeks on end every year photographing grizzly bears, hiking and backpacking in bear country, and talking to researchers and other naturalists who know bears.

So I’ve got my bear bones.

Points of Discussion About Bear Attacks

1. We Hope the Victim/s are OK

While I think that’s a worthy discussion, hopefully it’s not the be sole focus of our concern. Firstly, I hope the guy’s OK. I’ve been close enough to many grizzly bears that I can barely (now there’s a great pun) imagine how terrible it must be to be mauled by one.

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