Seward, Alaska
Seward, just before sunset Sunday night. A cruise ship just out of sight at the dock to the left was preparing to leave. My plan was to wait here to capture the ship as it moved out the bay, but I had a little change of plans.
You see when I hit the ridge, I became a bit uncomfortable when I noticed a large amount of bear scat in the patch of berries on the ridge- it was obvious something much larger then me also enjoyed the area! Having left my bear spray with Janine a quarter of a mile away back in camp didn’t help!
I eased up to the edge of the cliff and looked down below me – all clear. As I often do, I quickly became engrossed in the process of taking photos and never saw a black bear slowly climbing the ridge just below me. By the time I saw it, it was way too close! Because the sun was directly behind me, and I was working quietly, the bear never saw me either – I did a quick “hey bear”, and it was clear it was just as shocked to see me I was him! It quickly dropped down into the alders and out of sight. It happened too fast – I didn’t get a photo, but it was just the reaction I was looking for.
After I waited a while longer for the ship to leave, the bear re-emerged on the next ridge over – the one you see in this photo. Once out of the alders, the bear just stood there and stared at me! It stood motionless for a long time, just staring – I figured it was staring out of curiosity, but as time went on, I started becoming uncomfortable. Eventually, it turned and began climbing the ridge – sharpe eyed viewers can probably see it in this wide angle image. It was at this point that I decided a Seward photo without a cruise ship was good enough, and hiked back to camp.
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Comments 9
You may not have the cruise ship, but you’ve got a great story to go with this photo!
Hey Ron,
Do you know the John Scofield/Pat Metheny album, “I Can See Your House From Here”? An appropriate one for this image. 🙂
Cheers
Carl
Author
Thanks Scott!
Hi Carl – Yeah, that would be a good title. I was going to point my house out, but decided I rambled on enough over a bear that hardly shows. Thanks.
I can see the bear and it definitely adds another dimension to it once you see it. I’d much rather have a bear in my shot than a cruise ship anyway, but then that’s just me. Looks great regardless!
Very cool Ron. If someone were looking at this photo w/o knowing the story they would probably get a kick out of seeing the bear. A Where’s Beardo type of moment.
Great story and photo Ron!
Well you got a good image anyway, would of been nice to see a close up of the bear though.
Author
Thanks everyone!
Good one!