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Brown Bears in Alaska form a major global attraction for wildlife photographers.  The appeal is obvious; following and photographing these magnificent, and, of course, potentially dangerous animals in relative freedom and close proximity in superb surrounding habitat is undeniably awesome.  The main period for photographing the bears is July through to September.  In July, the salmon are running up the rivers and  bear activity is consequently concentrated on the rivers – many of you will have seen the classic shot of a Brown Bear catching a salmon at the top of Brooks Falls.  We elected to go to Brooks Falls in September when many of the salmon are dying after spawning and the bears are more spread out around the reserve giving a greater variety of photographic opportunities.  Brooks Falls is located in the Katmai National Park and Preserve and lies on the Alaska Peninsula 290 miles southwest of Anchorage.

Arrival At Kulik Lodge from Anchorage

Your stay at Brooks Falls Lodge is arranged by the very efficient Melissa Ackerman (melissa@katmailand,com) at Katmailand Inc in Anchorage and the cost includes the two flights from Anchorage to Brooks Falls and your accommodation. Your length of stay is limited to three nights in July, but up to seven nights in September.  A stay in July can be extended by camping, however, there are no facilities and you would pitch your tent on a piece of rough ground in area of damp woodland where I could imagine the mosquitoes would be unbearable.  Note that food and drink in the lodge are quite expensive, typically a meal costs in the order of $18-28.  This trip was not just about Brown Bears, we spent a couple days at the beginning and end of trip visiting nature reserves in the vicinity of Anchorage.  Whilst this was one of our most enjoyable trips, it was not without incidents!!.  The first being when John realised at Minneapolis airport that he forgotten his battery charger for the Nikon D100.  We tried every camera shop in Anchorage without success, however, his Aberdonian charm ensured that every Nikon user he accosted proved eager to lend him their charger. The second incident, being when I found that my Arca Swiss ball-head had literally come apart in my suitcase during the flight, a critical piece became lost and I spent the entire trip unable to fully tighten the lens on the ball-head.  The most serious incident by far, was when rear door of the hire vehicle was opened and Dave’s bag with his Nikon D2X and 600mm went shooting to the ground.  Yep, you guessed it the plate on the camera was bent and nothing seemed to work – what a start to the trip.  Dave and I virtually repaired the bent plate at 2300hrs on the floor in Wal Mart in Anchorage using a set of small screw-drivers and a hammer!!.  The final accident was when yours truly committed a federal offence by apparently approaching a Brown Bear closer than 50 yards and was promptly fined $125.

Having arrived in Anchorage after two gruelling flights with NW Airlines from Gatwick, London we had two days to spare before our flights to Brooks Falls.  We picked a hire car headed south along the Seward Highway to Homer, unfortunately the weather was poor and we only stopped briefly for a few landscape shots.  The weather on our return the following day was a big improvement and we spent several successful hours at the Alaskan Wild life Conservation Centre where we photographed a variety of mammals amongst typical Alaskan habitat and with the Portage Glacier in the distance.

 

Float plane from Kulik Lodge to Brooks Falls

Lodge at Brooks Falls

The good weather the next day ensured two memorable flights from Anchorage to Kulik Lodge and then a float plane on to Brooks Falls.  We flew low over various glaciers and snow-capped volcanoes giving breath-taking views. No less spectacular were the enormous expanses of the untouched Alaskan Tundra criss-crossed by numerous animal tracks.  Following our bear induction course at Brooks Falls camp we were eager to start photography, however, the main track out from the camp remained closed for several hours because the bears were either sleeping on the track or fishing very close to it.  This remained a daily problem during our week there with the track often closed for many hours.  This proved very frustrating.  Furthermore, the very high water levels, limited the areas you could go to photograph and most of the photography was done either from one viewing platform or very close to it.  Because of the large numbers of bears and humans the wardens restrict much of what you can do and tend to corral people about. This also means that you are a considerable distance from the bears and many of the shots were taken with the Canon 500mm plus 2.0 converter. From a photographic point of view this is both frustrating and limiting – but unavoidable.  Had I known this in advance, I would probably not have gone.  However, don’t get me wrong, we did get some nice images, the accommodation and food was great, it is just not the sort of photography that I enjoy.  We also met up with old friends Tom Cooper and Carl Donohue.  Out of the seven days there, we only one nice sunny day the remainder of the time it was cloudy but with some bright/sunny periods.

Finally, following some advice from Carl (thanks mate), we visited Chugach State Park on our return to Anchorage.  Here the moose are quite use to humans and allow a reasonably close approach, allowing photography with the Canon 100-400mm zoom.  Images from this trip shown in the Gallery section, were all taken on the Canon EOS 1D Mk.2 with the most frequently used lens being the 500mm UIS often with the 1.4 or 2.0 converter.  Occasionally, the 100-400mm zoom was used and either my 24-85mm zoom for landscapes or a loan of Louis’s 17-40mm zoom.

Main viewing Platform

Resident bear outside our cabin

Images from trip can be seen under GALLERIES