Most Popular Photo

This year, I'm very excited to report that we have the cover image for all three Bell's Travel Guides!

In my last post, in response to a question I shared information about our top grossing photos.  I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the above photo.  The boxing bear cub image you see on this travel guide hasn’t been used in an advertising campaign, this kept it off the top grossing list, but in terms of total number of sales, it has to be our most popular image.  

These guys are so cute, it is easy to understand why.  Not only has this image appeared on travel guides, in calendars and on post cards, but it receives a fair amount of attention on the internet as well.  In just over a year, it has been viewed by over 100,000 people on flickr!

This photo was captured in early spring of 2005 in Denali National Park.  The weather was clear, so we got up well before sunrise, probably about 3:00 a.m., and started driving across the Park with the hope of capturing Denali “the mountain” at sunrise.  I hadn’t seen spring cubs in Denali for years, and research reports from the Park confirmed for two years in a row spring cubs had not been spotted anywhere in the Park.  That just added to my surprise as we drove around a corner near Polychrome Pass and spotted a sow with three spring cubs right in the middle of the road!

I immediately turned the engine off, rolled down the window and began photographing.  The bear cubs were so fun to watch!  The bears actually walked down the road towards us a bit and got fairly close, before turning around and heading back up the road.  After walking a short distance, the bears left the road into the thick vegetation leaving us with goose bumps and huge smiles!  We watched for the cubs the rest of the trip, but never did see them again.