Field Notes from Alaska
Alaska.
A name that conjures up images of endless, snow-capped mountain peaks, vast, winding river valleys, caribou, moose, brown bears, glaciers, and pure, untouched wilderness.
A few weeks ago, I returned from 4 days spent in the Alaskan backcountry, where I was photographing coastal brown bears. If you follow my YouTube channel, you might remember when I gave away a free trip to Alaska to a random subscriber in early 2023 - this was that trip! After making our way to Anchorage, myself and the subscriber who won flew in a bush plane to a remote lodge on Alaska’s Bear Coast. This is the stretch of land on the eastern side of Katmai National Park running all the way up to northern Lake Clark National Park. This entire, 300+ mile coastline is intact, pristine wilderness, and it is some of the best bear habitat on earth.
iPhone shot out the window of the bush plane. Unreal!
Our ride to the lodge.
Here, on the Bear Coast, humans have developed a unique relationship with bears. For decades upon decades, we have let them live their lives along this coast without bothering or feeding them in any way, shape, or form. There are no uncontrollable crowds harassing them. Nobody shoots at them to get them off their property. Nobody leaves unsecured attractants out to feed them. These are just bears being bears, with us moving around them, and over time, they have become more and more comfortable with a human presence nearby, as long as we respect them.
This has allowed humans to create a situation where we can approach wild brown bears relatively safely, and observe them living life unimpeded at a close distance. We work around them, let them have right of way, treat them with respect, and they allow us into their world.
An action shot of me with an enormous female brown bear… notice the male coming in from the right, he was courting her.
To these bears, we are almost inanimate objects in their world… they pay us essentially no attention, even at close range.
This is why I decided to go to Alaska’s Bear Coast for this trip. I wanted to photograph brown bears up close, to capture an intimate look into their lives, and because we have built such a great relationship with the bears here, this is the best place on earth to do that.
When we landed on the beach just a mile or so from the lodge, we were picked up in an ATV with a cart drawn behind it. This is how you get around out here. There are no roads, no cars, no easy ways to access this place, save boats and bush planes.
We took the ATV over to a cozy, quaint lodge, where we would be staying and enjoying delicious meals for the next few days.
Silver Salmon Creek Lodge - where we eat fantastic meals made by a professional chef and swap stories.
The Coho Cabin - where we stayed for the duration of the trip.
After an epic bear photo shoot to start the day, a delicious breakfast. Made to order every morning!
After dropping our luggage off at the cabin, we hit the ground running. It was time to go find bears!
Our guide drove us out into the sedge meadows, where in no time, we found a pair of young bears. We sat down in the soft grasses and began shooting them, surrounded by a landscape that is truly a paradise on earth.
Jamie (the giveaway winner) took this photo on her iPhone! What a place to get to shoot in.
This was life for the next four days. Wake up, go into the field, photograph bears, eat good food, sleep, repeat.
The iPhone shot…
vs. the camera shot.
Most mornings started on the tidal mud flats. Each day, when the tides receded, the ocean floor was uncovered, and the bears meandered out onto the vast tidal flats to “clam.” Clamming is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: bears digging up clams. Razor clams number in the thousands here, all buried 1-2 feet under the ocean floor. They are invisible to the eye, but not to a bear’s nose. The bears walk the flats methodically, sniffing the ground for clams. When they have pinpointed where the scent is the strongest, they dig down into the mud, pluck out a clam, and delicately pop the shell apart with their clams to get to the meat inside. They do this with such precision and efficiency… it’s really impressive to watch. We clocked one bear doing almost 100 clams an hour!
An adult female brown bear clamming.
When she is done clamming this area, the gulls will come in and clean up what remains of her feast.
Evidence of clamming, with the culprit in the distance.
Then, as the tides move back in, the bears go up into the sedge meadows, where they feed on sedges. This is a plant that looks pretty much exactly like a grass, but technically isn’t, and bears love to feed on it due to its nutritional value.
These meadows are where I got my favorite photos from the trip. The soft green grasses and dark forests in the background make for very clean, pretty images.
A large male brown bear that was courting multiple sows on this stretch of coastline.
Among the soft sedge grass.
A female brown bear known locally as “Spot.”
Photographing Spot in the sedge meadows.
While we were there, it also happened to be peak mating season for bears. This meant that we got to see huge males courting females, which involved a lot of chasing, running, and… “action” that we watched and photographed. This is the best time of year to get to see enormous male brown bears. After the mating season, they spend less time in the meadows and are not as visible to us.
A courting pair of brown bears.
Brown bears mating.
This time of year is also cub season: when mother bears come out with new spring cubs. Unfortunately, cub season can be hit or miss. Some years, you get lots of cubs, and the photography is out of this world. Other years, you get no cubs, and the photography is… well still out of this world, but just without tiny bear cubs to shoot.
After four days in the field, I came away with some of the most spectacular photos I’ve ever taken. The picturesque landscapes, distant, clean backgrounds, and cooperative bears make this place absolutely perfect for photography. To be honest, I got a little emotional leaving. Aside from Yellowstone, no place has ever moved me like this place did. It is hard to put into words the impact it has on a person, but I can tell you it is worth experiencing.
The bare patches are what biologists call a “grandfather trail” - where generations upon generations of bears have stepped in the exact same spot for decades… if not centuries.
Back of the camera shot. This is one of my favorite images from the trip, but with over 10,000 photos to go through taken in the 4 days I spent out there, I haven’t had time to edit it yet!
The only thing we really wanted to get, but didn’t, were cubs. We were not lucky enough to see or photograph any cubs on this trip… it was just one of those miss years. But, it was still the most incredible couple of days of photography I’ve ever had, and missing out on cubs leaves something to look forward to next trip.
And while we’re on the topic of next trip, I am now leading a Brown Bears of the Alaskan Coast photography workshop, focused almost entirely on photographing these incredible brown bears! The opportunities will be endless, beautiful, and fantastic. You will come away with so many images you are proud of, and aside from the photos, just the experience of being there is unlike anything else. I would absolutely love to have some of you along.
But whether you decide to come on one of these trips with me or just enjoy from the comfort of home, thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you all liked the photos. I’m sad this experience is over, but I can’t wait do it all over again in the future with some of you by my side!