In the Field

The Watchman of Bearadise. Khutzeymateen Inlet, northern BC Coast, Canada. May 28, 2016.

When you're a young grizzly living in a region that's jam-packed with other grizzlies - many much bigger than yourself - it makes good sense to pay attention to your surroundings. This young bear had cleverly positioned itself on top of a rock pillar that at high tide becomes an island and that has a great view in all directions. Only a few moments before I captured this image the bear had been laying down and resting peacefully on the thick moss blanketing the top surface of the rock pillar. Then it abruptly stood up and stared into the distance - and right at a larger bear coming its way. Its vigilance and survival instincts gave us this unforgettable pose in one of the most beautiful settings imaginable...even without the striking hanging lichens (known as Methuselah's Beard - Usnea longissima) the setting would have been stunning. But add in that lichen and you have total bear-photographer nirvana - pure bearadise! ;-)

When confronted with a scene like this it's easy to be so awestruck that you forget the technical end of photography. I tend to be a major stickler on how depth-of-field (and out-of-focus zones) are used in a photo. As this scene was evolving I kept telling myself to "remember the DoF"...and thus forced myself to keep thinking "...stop down...stop down...stop down". Fortunately, I had a camera in my hands (a Nikon D5) that allowed me to use an ISO high enough (to ISO 3600) to let me stop down the aperture enough (in this case to f10) to keep the critical moss and foreground in sharp focus AND a shutter speed (1/200s) I was sure I could hand-hold.

Yep...there's always an "f8 and be there" component to wildlife photography. But even when you DO manage to be in the right place at the right time you have to keep your wits about you and the technical side of your brain going!

Here's a higher resolution (2400 pixel) version of this shot of bear heaven:

• The Watchman of Bearadise: Download 2400 pixel image (JPEG: 2.4 MB)

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

1. This image - in all resolutions - is protected by copyright. I'm fine with personal uses of them (including use as desktop backgrounds or screensavers on your own computer), but unauthorized commercial use of the image is prohibited by law. Thanks in advance for respecting my copyright!

2. This image was captured during one of my two spring "Grizzlies of the Khutzeymateen" photo tours in May/June of 2016. Each year I offer trips into two different parts of the Great Bear Rainforest as well as one to photograph aquatic mammals and oceanscapes near the northern tip of Vancouver Island. And, in selected years, I also offer photo tours to locations to capture other highly sought-after subjects, such as various boreal owl species and wildlife of Canada's Arctic. Details about these trips can be found on the Photo Tours page of this website.

3. Like all wildlife images on this website, the subject(s) is/are fully wild and completely unconstrained. Besides the potential impact of my/our presence, nothing has been done to intentionally alter or affect the ongoing behavior of the subject and, of course, there has been no use of any form of bait or other form of wildlife attractants (including vocalizations).

Behind the Camera

The Watchman of Bearadise. Khutzeymateen Inlet, northern BC Coast, Canada. May 28, 2016.

Digital Capture; Compressed RAW (NEF) 14-bit format; ISO 3600.

Nikon D5 paired with Nikkor 70-200mm f4 VR @ 200mm. Hand-held from floating Zodiac. VR on and in "Normal" mode.

1/200s @ f10; -0.67 stop compensation from "recommended" matrix-metered exposure setting.

At the Computer

The Watchman of Bearadise. Khutzeymateen Inlet, northern BC Coast, Canada. May 28, 2016.

RAW Conversion to 16-bit TIFF using Phase One's Capture One Pro 9. Four raw variants (different versions of a single raw capture) processed, with the variants differing in exposure settings (0.75 stop total difference between the variants), shadow recovery settings, and noise reduction settings.

Further digital corrections on resulting 16-bit TIFF files using Adobe's Photoshop CC 2015 and Light Crafts Lightzone. Photoshop adjustments included compositing (blending) of the four output files from the raw converter, and final selective sharpening for web output. Final tone-tweaking performed using LightZone's "tonemapper" tool.

Conservation

The Watchman of Bearadise. Khutzeymateen Inlet, northern BC Coast, Canada. May 28, 2016.

Ten percent of the revenue generated by this image will be donated to Raincoast*.

Species Status in Canada**: Special Concern (May 2002).

While Grizzly Bears (Ursus arctos) are not technically listed as "Endangered" in Canada, they have been extirpated from most of their historical range. Grizzly Bears are far more sensitive to intrusion/disturbance in their habitat than are Black Bears and are being increasingly forced into marginal habitat by human encroachment. The Great Bear Rainforest along the central and northern coast of British Columbia is one of the last strongholds of the Grizzly Bear in Canada, and even this population is coming under increasing pressure.

On December 18, 2017 the government of British Columbia banned grizzly hunting across the entire province. This major conservation victory came after decades of tireless work by many dedicated conservationists and ecologists and, most importantly, it reflects the opinion of the vast majority of British Columbians. And, it means that AT LEAST while the current government remains in power grizzlies are finally "safe" in British Columbia.

Now that we've at least temporarily won the battle to save grizzlies in BC, it's time to re-focus our efforts toward protecting ALL of BC's carnivores, including Gray Wolves, Black Bears, Cougars, Wolverines, and more! Simply put, there are no ecological, economic, or ethical arguments supporting the trophy hunting of carnivores.

In a great first step towards ending the hunting of carnivores throughout BC the Raincoast Conservation Foundation has developed a program designed to protect ALL carnivores within the Great Bear Rainforest. Details about this program can be found on this page on Raincoast's website. Check it out and, better yet, make a donation to help Raincoast purchase the remaining commercial hunting tenures in the Great Bear!

*The Raincoast Conservation Society (and Foundation) is an effective and efficient organization that has been fighting for protection of this unique habitat. If you are looking for a meaningful way to contribute to the conservation of this amazing ecosystem, Raincoast will provide maximal "bang" for your conservation dollars.

**as determined by COSEWIC: The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada