Katmai National Park and Brooks Camp
In July of 2021, I found myself in King Salmon, Alaska where I was able to get a day trip into Katmai National Park to visit Brooks Camp and take photos of the bears that frequent the area. I wish I could have stayed another couple of days, I would have loved to have had one more day to photograph the bears, and I really wanted to see the “Valley of Ten-Thousand Smokes”. The fish hadn’t really showed up yet, there were some though, and the bears had started to come down to the river. I was hoping to capture the iconic bear catching a fish photo, and came close, maybe next time.
I flew out of King Salmon on a float plane with wheels, taking off from the airport, but landing in the water. There weren’t that many other people sharing the viewing platforms, so I basically just went back and forth between the upper and lower platforms all day and watched the different bears come by and fish. Sometimes the bears would stand very still just waiting for a fish, so I was able to play around with some slow exposures and I really liked how they turned out.
The float plane that took us to Katmai.
A bear waiting for a fish, taken with a slow shutter to show blur in the water.
Bear taking a bath.
Bear taking a bath.
Bear taking a bath.
A bear waiting for a fish, taken with a slow shutter to show blur in the water.
A bear waiting for a fish, taken with a slow shutter to show blur in the water.
A bear waiting for a fish, taken with a slow shutter to show blur in the water.
The viewing platforms were only accessible through a gate and raised walkways, so there wasn’t any way for the bears to access them. Once you left the gated viewing area though the chances of running into bears increased. There were many bears, including a mother with some cubs that also used the trails and you never knew if you might run across one. I had one close call when two juveniles came walking up and surprised me, but how often can you say you took a selfie with a couple bears?
Selfie with a couple teenagers.
Sow and cubs waiting for a chance to catch some fish while avoiding bigger males.
Mother bear trying to take a nap.
Bear coming out of the water.
Young bears walking down the road.
Cub watching other bears fish.
Sow keeping an eye on her wandering cub.