We have a lot of bears accessible by road this fall due to low fish counts. Yesterday afternoon my wife and I spent 5 hours in our truck visiting rivers, and although we saw bears there we also crowds of people acting stupid. We didn’t even get out of the truck. On the drive back we checked a small stream 5 minutes from home and found a sow with two new cubs. We stayed in the truck there too, but because these were unhabituated bears close up. Not a showpiece image in my book, but representative without drama.
I’m always interested in others’ views, but this hangs upon my recognition that it is a very young brown bear. Is the youth clear to viewers or perhaps too subtle?
Any pertinent technical details:
Handheld out the window of our truck with a Nikon D7200 with Nikon 200-500 at 200mm.
Considering the title of image, I would have preferred to see some nicely cut reflection.
While shooting big animals from close quarters we often get carried away by there presence, which at times make it difficult to give a right cut.
The young age is shows up to me, but it might not to everybody, since there is not really a size reference in the image. You have to rely on the characteristics instead.
RE the title, I can see a thoughtful, reflective look in the cub’s eyes, so there are several ways to look at the title.
A comment on crowds acting stupidly… I guess that’s the in thing to do these days. The guy at Katmai that got out into the middle of the video? Wow.
You busted me on which reflection I was “reflecting” upon.
I’m becoming really averse to crowds and wildlife, I think mostly because so many people have what I call a sense of entitlement, as though the critters exist only for their enjoyment and benefit. I had an experience two years ago that spotlights it I think:
I was driving the hour to town and approached a bridge with a knot of people on the roadside watching and photographing a nearby bear. I slowed to 30 and coasted with my foot hovering over the brake. Thank goodness for that, and for anti-lock brakes.
A woman photographing the bear stepped back into the traffic lane, and I managed to skid to a stop with my bumper not so much as a foot from her. She turned impatiently to look at me, hoisted her middle finger, and resumed gazing through her viewfinder… I put that right up there with the drunk challenging the Yellowstone bison this summer.
