BEHIND THE SCENE

People often ask me how close I am to the bears I photograph. It depends on the situation, the location and the species of bear, naturally.
I usually work in national parks where bears aren’t hunted, so they don’t associate people with danger. They also don’t see people as a possible food source.
I almost always choose to visit these parks during the annual salmon runs, when bears’ attention tends to be focused purely on fishing.
I keep a safe distance — always — and leave it to the bear to decide how close it wants to be. One must always respect a bear’s space. If a bear is agitated, it will let you know.
Bears are wild animals, and they can be unpredictable. Even if I feel comfortable with a bear at, say, 10 metres, I always pay attention to its posture and body language. It’s usually easy to tell when there is tension. The bear’s ears will flatten back against its head, and it will often flap its mouth.
For that reason, I usually shoot with long telephoto lenses — 600mm or even 800 mm. It pays to be safe, both for you and the bear.

I captured this image in the coastal region of Alaska’s Katmai National Park, during the salmon run when the fish return to the rivers in large numbers to reproduce. It’s real feasting time for the bears.
After this bear caught the salmon, he came straight to the riverbank, where we had set up our tripods. He passed close by and carried on to find a spot to eat his catch, safe from other bears.
Bears often gorge themselves at the beginning of a run, eating as many salmon as they can to build up the fat stores necessary for the long hibernation ahead.
Towards the end of the run, however, they will slow down and be pickier about their choice of food. They ignore the male salmon and focus on females with eggs. During this time, the bears often eat only the skin and brains of fish, skin and brain matter is richer in fat nutrients.
The bears then leave the rest of the fish for other animals to eat. The circle of life goes on.

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