14 Jan Top 10 of 2016: #2 – Grizzly Sanctuary
Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /var/www/wp-content/plugins/bridge-core/modules/shortcodes/shortcode-elements/_social-share/templates/social-share.php on line 124
Top 10 of 2016: #2a – On Top
The second best image of 2016 in my top 10 series of images is a set of images, instead of just a single image. These images were photographed in the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary in British Columbia.
In the Khutzeymateen we do our shooting from an inflatable zodiac that we use to travel through the estuary looking for Grizzlies. When we came upon this Grizzly Bear, this was scene that we couldn’t believe was unfolding as we watched it. This Grizzly Bear climbed up on rocks, where she had to stand on her hind legs, and climbed onto an actual small rock island to have an afternoon nap. She even broke her claws from the big climb, especially because the tide was pretty low at the time. Our guide who has been guiding in Khutzeymateen for many many years, since before it was designated as a sanctuary, had never seen anything quite like that before.
On my first trip to the Khutzeymateen in 2015, I remember seeing this particular little rock island covered and different moss and thinking it would be cool to see a Grizzly Bear on there, little did I know that the following year I was going to have the opportunity to drop my jaw in awe and watch her climb up there.
Top 10 of 2016: #2b – Tranquil
We were also fortunate that while she was napping she moved around on the island a few times and therefore provided us the opportunity to get a bunch of different shots, and use different apertures and focal lengths to really capture this unique scene, and unless you were there you may not know that they were all captured in one spot.
The first image in this sequence “On Top” shows just how high the rock island actually was, and this was taken a little while after the Grizzly climbed up there, and the tide has risen quite a bit by the time I took this photo. Looking back at this image I don’t even know that I would be able to climb up on this island like she did.
The next image in the sequence “Tranquil” show the Grizzly Bear as she dozed on a bed of mossy greens, I actually think that I would be able to fall asleep in a place like that. What I like about this image is that it’s pretty simple, with really the Bear and the moss attracting all the attention. I also really like that the Bear is eyeing us at the time, and you can see the whites of her eye.
The final image in the sequence (although this winter I hope to process even more images from this scene, so stay tuned to my Khutzeymateen gallery) is “Grizzly Sanctuary”, because this Grizzly Bear found just that, her own personal sanctuary.
Top 10 of 2016: #2c – Grizzly Sanctuary
This was probably one of the best sleeps that she had gotten in a while, knowing that it was unlikely that some of the larger males that were roaming the estuary wouldn’t easily get to her. This image also highlights her claws, and you can even see how some of them are broken off. When I went back to the images of her climbing up, you could see the can see when her claws were all long, and now you can see them all broken off.
One of the key things that allowed us to capture all these great images is patience. There were many times when she was dead asleep, and we didn’t always have the best angle, however, everyone on the trip was willing to wait it out, instead of chasing whatever else could have been going on in the estuary, and this allowed us to capture a number of very different images, even though they were all taken from this rock island.
I can’t wait to go back to the Khutzeymateen in just five months.
Top 10 of 2016: #2a – On Top
The second best image of 2016 in my top 10 series of images is a set of images, instead of just a single image. These images were photographed in the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary in British Columbia.
In the Khutzeymateen we do our shooting from an inflatable zodiac that we use to travel through the estuary looking for Grizzlies. When we came upon this Grizzly Bear, this was scene that we couldn’t believe was unfolding as we watched it. This Grizzly Bear climbed up on rocks, where she had to stand on her hind legs, and climbed onto an actual small rock island to have an afternoon nap. She even broke her claws from the big climb, especially because the tide was pretty low at the time. Our guide who has been guiding in Khutzeymateen for many many years, since before it was designated as a sanctuary, had never seen anything quite like that before.
On my first trip to the Khutzeymateen in 2015, I remember seeing this particular little rock island covered and different moss and thinking it would be cool to see a Grizzly Bear on there, little did I know that the following year I was going to have the opportunity to drop my jaw in awe and watch her climb up there.
Top 10 of 2016: #2b – Tranquil
We were also fortunate that while she was napping she moved around on the island a few times and therefore provided us the opportunity to get a bunch of different shots, and use different apertures and focal lengths to really capture this unique scene, and unless you were there you may not know that they were all captured in one spot.
The first image in this sequence “On Top” shows just how high the rock island actually was, and this was taken a little while after the Grizzly climbed up there, and the tide has risen quite a bit by the time I took this photo. Looking back at this image I don’t even know that I would be able to climb up on this island like she did.
The next image in the sequence “Tranquil” show the Grizzly Bear as she dozed on a bed of mossy greens, I actually think that I would be able to fall asleep in a place like that. What I like about this image is that it’s pretty simple, with really the Bear and the moss attracting all the attention. I also really like that the Bear is eyeing us at the time, and you can see the whites of her eye.
The final image in the sequence (although this winter I hope to process even more images from this scene, so stay tuned to my Khutzeymateen gallery) is “Grizzly Sanctuary”, because this Grizzly Bear found just that, her own personal sanctuary.
Top 10 of 2016: #2c – Grizzly Sanctuary
This was probably one of the best sleeps that she had gotten in a while, knowing that it was unlikely that some of the larger males that were roaming the estuary wouldn’t easily get to her. This image also highlights her claws, and you can even see how some of them are broken off. When I went back to the images of her climbing up, you could see the can see when her claws were all long, and now you can see them all broken off.
One of the key things that allowed us to capture all these great images is patience. There were many times when she was dead asleep, and we didn’t always have the best angle, however, everyone on the trip was willing to wait it out, instead of chasing whatever else could have been going on in the estuary, and this allowed us to capture a number of very different images, even though they were all taken from this rock island.
I can’t wait to go back to the Khutzeymateen in just five months.