Grizzly bear cub

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kkr_images

kkr_images

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If you have ever been to Lake Clark, Alaska, you know what a special place it is for photographing bears. I visited Silver Salmon Lodge in August 2021 and had a fabulous time photographing a number of different bears which were in the area to catch salmon and fatten up for winter. One bear cub was my particular favorite and I have included a number of images of this bear and its mother for this post. Notice that even the most energetic of cubs still needs a nap under mother's watchful eye.

Bear cub on the run.jpg
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Bear cub portrait (Crimp Ear's son).jpg
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Can't catch me, Mom.jpg
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Mother bear watches over a napping cub.jpg
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kkr_images said:
If you have ever been to Lake Clark, Alaska, you know what a special place it is for photographing bears. I visited Silver Salmon Lodge in August 2021 and had a fabulous time photographing a number of different bears which were in the area to catch salmon and fatten up for winter. One bear cub was my particular favorite and I have included a number of images of this bear and its mother for this post. Notice that even the most energetic of cubs still needs a nap under mother's watchful eye.

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Wonderful images of those magnificent creatures Kathy.
Happy trails.
 
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kkr_images said:
If you have ever been to Lake Clark, Alaska, you know what a special place it is for photographing bears. I visited Silver Salmon Lodge in August 2021 and had a fabulous time photographing a number of different bears which were in the area to catch salmon and fatten up for winter. One bear cub was my particular favorite and I have included a number of images of this bear and its mother for this post. Notice that even the most energetic of cubs still needs a nap under mother's watchful eye.

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Beautiful series! Kathy! Well done👍👍👍
 
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Love this series. Thanks for sharing. How were the bugs that time of year? Is there ever a time you can photograph the bears without a huge bug issue. That makes the trip a non-starter for some in my travel group.
 
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beautiful creature and so full of joy and live! But there is an adult deep in those eyes - so great to see sightings that I will never see.
 
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BarkingBeans Coffee said:
Love this series. Thanks for sharing. How were the bugs that time of year? Is there ever a time you can photograph the bears without a huge bug issue. That makes the trip a non-starter for some in my travel group.
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We didn't have any bugs at all. That said, I was wearing waders, boots and warm jackets every day so there wouldn't have been much to nibble on even if there had been any insects!
 
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Piecat said:
Great images, the “nap” is a LOL moment in time. Love it all.
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I love the "nap" image also, particularly since this cub acted like an annoying kid running up and down the beach...until he collapsed next to Mom and fell asleep. I guess even grizzlies have their limits.
 
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Callie said:
beautiful creature and so full of joy and live! But there is an adult deep in those eyes - so great to see sightings that I will never see.
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These bears were incredible. I enjoyed seeing them even more than seeing the lions and leopards (which is saying a great deal). Sorry you won't get to see them; I feel very privileged that I got the chance to share time with them in Alaska.
 
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NorthernFocus said:
That's a beautiful, healthy looking youngster. They look downright cuddly when their fur is dry. Nice set of image. Well done.
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When you see a healthy, young grizzly, you can definitely see why stuffed bears have such an appeal. I found it very interesting that the bears had very individual faces so I ended up taking lots of portraits.
 
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Elbert said:
What a great set! The napping cub is probably my favourite because it show behaviour and also that the animals are at ease but I really like them all.
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I love the napping cub image because it reminded me of seeing my own "cubs" collapse into a nap after a busy day at the beach. KKR
 
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kkr_images said:
When you see a healthy, young grizzly, you can definitely see why stuffed bears have such an appeal. I found it very interesting that the bears had very individual faces so I ended up taking lots of portraits.
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Apart from the sharp teeth and claws they're just like stuffies. Any illusions about their cute/cuddliness goes out the window pretty quickly when you see a pair of siblings go at it over a bit of salmon. It can be shocking how quickly the scene changes from the cutest little rascals to raw violence. But barring those encounters they're 99.8 percent adorable :)
 
Wonderful images Kathy. So much difference the weather can make. I was at Lake Clark in June of 23. It was rainy, cold and dismal. All of my images are of wet Grizzles . What a dry coat can do both for the image and the perception of those magnificent animals. Your Cub images are so much more interesting and cuter than mine although they are probably about the same age as the ones I encountered. You did well picking the time to visit. I thoroughly enjoyed your presentation. Take Care and Stay Safe, Dale
 
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kkr_images said:
If you have ever been to Lake Clark, Alaska, you know what a special place it is for photographing bears. I visited Silver Salmon Lodge in August 2021 and had a fabulous time photographing a number of different bears which were in the area to catch salmon and fatten up for winter. One bear cub was my particular favorite and I have included a number of images of this bear and its mother for this post. Notice that even the most energetic of cubs still needs a nap under mother's watchful eye.

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First of all, the first shot is fabulous and has convinced me to try to visit that beach and secondly I have a couple of questions.
Do you know if it is practical to fly in and out of there from Homer? I would expect that a guided day trip from Homer would be a lot less expensive than staying at the lodge for a couple of nights. Or, if I could rent camping gear in Homer, i could consider camping near there if the Lodge and bears wouldn't mind.

Also, maybe I am misreading the EXIF data below the first photos, but it seems to say you were using a 300mm lens and the focal length of the photo was 420mm. The D850 is not a crop sensor camera which would have accounted for the difference.

Could you please clarify this for me? It is no big deal but just seemed odd to me. Could it have been a zoom lens set to 300? I may be having brain lock but this seemed curious and if I am misreading the data I would like to know.

Thanks for any info you may provide and, again, the first picture of the cub is priceless. Over the years we've made several self-guided wilderness trips to Alaska and never came close to a shot like that!!!
 
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Maggiegirl said:
Wonderful images Kathy. So much difference the weather can make. I was at Lake Clark in June of 23. It was rainy, cold and dismal. All of my images are of wet Grizzles . What a dry coat can do both for the image and the perception of those magnificent animals. Your Cub images are so much more interesting and cuter than mine although they are probably about the same age as the ones I encountered. You did well picking the time to visit. I thoroughly enjoyed your presentation. Take Care and Stay Safe, Dale
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Thank you for your kind words about my images. We definitely lucked out on the weather. We had a high overcast each day. On the day we left, the weather took a definite turn for the worse and I felt for the people coming in as we were flying out. I do have shots of the bears emerging from the river, and you are right that they don't look nearly as fluffy and "cute."
 
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