Polar Bear

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ssheipel

ssheipel

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Still going through my Baffin Bay photos.
This bear we spotted as we were leaving our camp; as he came onto the ice from the mountainous shore of Baffin Island (that's the shoreline sloping up to photo right; that's either a small iceberg stuck in the sea ice directly behind him, or given there was a bit of a point of shoreline here it may have been an ice wave created during a storm during freeze up; or perhaps an uplift of ice before full freeze up....) We could not have been more than 300, 400 metres from camp when this bear was spotted. I was warming my hands (so missed the shot) when this bear walked nicely with the tents clearly visible in the background.
A bear was in our camp one night -- footprints confirmed that. The tour leader accused me one morning of playing a joke on him the night before, the bear visit night, by slapping his tent and then not responding when he yelled, "Hey, who's there!?" Shortly afterward the Inuit guide came into the communal tent and announced the bear tracks. The younger bears, as this one here, medium sized, are said to be mostly 'curious' and also more likely to be skittish of human yelling, or the sound of snow mobiles. As for a promised 'bear watch' on the trip -- I'll outline that risk mitigation 'mess' in a general post on the trip (coming soon).
Another fun fact, the ends of all my fingers are peeling now, so clearly they got colder more often than they should have in order to operate the camera :)

Bear and berg sized -1.jpg
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Just awesome! Pretty much my dream as I just love cold and winters and N American wildlife is my favorite! I once did check out a guided trip to Baffin, but at $20k it wasn't in the cards for me. So great to see someone experience that unique place!
 
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ssheipel said:
I know, I know, I keep promising a post on the 'story' of the trip :) Soon!
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Hey, is your gear signature up to date? I came across your post Sept 2022 about the D6 and Z9 but the z9 is not in your sig. I 'might' buy, again, another canon 1dx3 which is more or less the equal to the D6, better in some ways, surely lesser in other ways. It is interesting, the DXO sensor scoring for higher iso is much better for the D6 and even more for the R1, a lot more. I figure the Z9 45Mp is the primary trade-off for iso IQ.
Then, even more down the rabbit hole, is that apparently the raw processor you use, per model camera, can make an actual huge difference. For example DXOraw being much better for the Canon R52 than LRC, which I find to be incredibly annoying as I just want to use one workflow.

I used Capture One pro for 20 years, now LRC since last fall. Now I have to go learn/master DXOpure RAW ?!!!
 
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ssheipel said:
I know, I know, I keep promising a post on the 'story' of the trip :) Soon!
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We're all anxious to see and hear more, but catch your breath and let your fingers thaw out. I've been following your trip for the past year, enjoying your preperation and I'm sure most of those reading the forum fell the same. Great photos and story, thanks for sharing your adventure!
 
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JWest said:
Hey, is your gear signature up to date? I came across your post Sept 2022 about the D6 and Z9 but the z9 is not in your sig. I 'might' buy, again, another canon 1dx3 which is more or less the equal to the D6, better in some ways, surely lesser in other ways. It is interesting, the DXO sensor scoring for higher iso is much better for the D6 and even more for the R1, a lot more. I figure the Z9 45Mp is the primary trade-off for iso IQ.
Then, even more down the rabbit hole, is that apparently the raw processor you use, per model camera, can make an actual huge difference. For example DXOraw being much better for the Canon R52 than LRC, which I find to be incredibly annoying as I just want to use one workflow.

I used Capture One pro for 20 years, now LRC since last fall. Now I have to go learn/master DXOpure RAW ?!!!
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I have the Z9 and D6; D6 as second and back-up camera. I do no such technical comparisons for gear, 'cause, well, I'm a technical idiot LOL I really don't think about noise anymore. Helps that I'm not a fan of my own photos certainly for printing have that uber sharpness look -- tho I'm drawn to it like a moth to light seeing it in other photos like most other people :) When noise is an 'issue' I start with the denoise in LRC; do have Topaz (which I most often turn to for sharpening if needed, which worries about noise, as well). The nicest thing in the difference between the Z9 and D6 is the 45Mp of the Z9 provides much greater cropping leeway, most definitely for wildlife photography. Cheers!
 
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NorthernFocus said:
Another nice photo, Steven. Very dramatic setting and a good looking bear. Looking forward to hearing more about this trip. Sounds like in addition to the photography that it was quite the adventure.
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Thanks Dan. Geat experience was had; good photo ops, too. The, ah, logistical execution was an 'adventure' indeed :)
 
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pygmyowl said:
Just awesome! Pretty much my dream as I just love cold and winters and N American wildlife is my favorite! I once did check out a guided trip to Baffin, but at $20k it wasn't in the cards for me. So great to see someone experience that unique place!
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Thanks. I spent money I really don't have (been trying to retire for years, now), but the tour was not close to that price itself. Getting north hurts $ wise too -- 4kcad for flights. I'd been to Canada's western arctic before but lifelong dream was to be in the high acrtic in the 'winter' and as a lover of winter to camp on the sea ice was truly awesome, then to see polar bears.... I gotta win the lottery so I can do it again :) Cheers!
 
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JWest said:
I need to drive up north to see what I can find. I am experienced in serious winter excursions from growing up in northern MN and mountaineering, but not in bear country.
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Well, driving is definitely an option in the Western Arctic; in Canada the Dempster Highway now goes all the way to Tuk (Tuktoyaktuk, NWT), pretty much the Arctic Ocean; 69 N latitude-ish I think?. You can drive it in the winter, but the risk is gonna be very high -- it's a looooong way between settlements :) Also in winter the two or three ferry crossings would be replaced by ice crossings -- the highway is closed in fall and spring while the ice forms and breaks up respectively. I've done the Dempster in early fall (and experienced a blizzard) but then the road (starts in Dawson City) only went to Inuviuk. The big challenge in summer is the road is natural surfaces including long stretches of slate -- likes to slice tires -- and the gravel surfaces pretty much guarantee cracked (or broken -- we lost a rear window in a pickup truck; lost three tires from two vehicles). Not to overstate it as it is quite drivable in the summer and is gorgeous -- two mountain ranges and glorious tundra plains! Eastern Arctic is all about getting 'there' by aircraft; ain't no roads beyond a certain point (e.g. Churchill in Manitoba) and then gets too mountainous and into the archipelago nature of the region. Cheers!
 
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ssheipel said:
Still going through my Baffin Bay photos.
Another fun fact, the ends of all my fingers are peeling now, so clearly they got colder more often than they should have in order to operate the camera :)
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Stunning bear, but the environment takes it to a whole new level. I'm jealous!. Have you considered selling prints of this and possibly other photos of yours?
I sympathize about the fingers peeling. Back in the day (college semester breaks spent snowshoeing in the Presidential range in NH) I'd use a nail clipper to clip my nails and my fingers.
 
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