Bear Country, a photo from South Dakota, Midwest

Photographer's Note

Bear Country,

Bear Country USA Wildlife Park
Rapid City, South Dakota

There is nothing I enjoy more than a brisk and invigorating morning walk through the Bear Country USA wildlife park.

... well no .. actually Bear Country is a drive through wildlife park of North American wildlife .. and actually they demand that you stay in your vehicle and keep your windows up (they have park workers clean your windows as you pay your entry fee).

The park has 2 Grizzly Bears, more than 200 black bears, wolves, mountain lions, and several other species living in large separated enclosures on 250 acres of land. There is also a walk through area for smaller species and babies.

A few months before his untimely death the late Steve Irwin (the Crocodile Hunter) filmed for most of a day at Bear Country. The shows are airing this August on his daughter's series "Bindi the Jungle Girl"

for information
http://www.bearcountryusa.com/

Well this place kind of balanced my experience of about a month ago when I met a black bear on a trail while hiking alone .. I didn't get my camera up then before the bear ran off .. (not that photography was the first thing my mind at that point).

I discovered the hardest part of shooting black bears (through a window) is that they are often so darn black .. I really had a hard time deciding which image of this set to post .. this was my favorite compositionally for giving and impression of this place .. the first workshop is better technically .. the second workshop may be my favorite.

delic, happypoppeye, kiwi_explorer, gunbud, isabela_sor, pboehringer, rigoletto ha contrassegnato questa nota come utile

Critiques | Translate

bracasha75 (24591) 2007-08-19 11:57

Hello John
So nice shot from this distance...
If you ask me i came so close,no chance, with a rifle to make shot and not wiht a Olympus..
Very brave
Cheers,Braca
PS I now that this is a park...

delic (6735) 2007-08-19 12:54

Hello John,
That looks like a healthy family. You are right in that grizzlies are easier to photograph in terms of exposure control. You did well though. The polarizer may have increased the contrast, which is not desirable here. Regards,
Hakan

kiwi_explorer (12209) 2007-08-19 18:31

Hi John,
I suppose you have to walk briskly in case these bears will take you as easy tucker :) Lovely to see these animals in their relax mode... they look sooo cudly when they are in this state. Well seen and captured. Well done! tfs
Cheers,
Renier

gunbud (34066) 2007-08-19 18:57

Hi John,
Very nice look at these magnificent well fed creatures securely behind the fence. They appear to be healthy as they are seen in fine colors and excellent details.
Regards, Tom

isabela_sor (47748) 2007-08-19 21:42

It's funny,we have in Romania a city of bears,named Brasov, because there you can see in the summer time, especially in winter time the families of bears coming to eat directly from rubbish carts :)A real combination of wild life and urban life for bears :)Lovely scene and I wonder how close can you get :)
A nice week

happypoppeye (4819) 2007-08-20 0:49

Good catch John. Although in a "bear park" it's not often that you see so many bears in one place at one time. I had to look at it for a few seconds, at first thinking the horizon wasn't straight, but the tree trunks really make it tough to tell and I think you "straightened" in well. Yes, the bears are a bit underexposed but not bad at all...

Your note reminds me of one experience a few years back. I was about 10 miles off the road, plus about 100 yards off the trail, in Kootenay NP up on the border of BC & Alberta. Just sitting in a flower filled valley, next to a swift running stream of bright blue glacier water, taking photos of the landscape...and I turn around to see a grizzly staring right at me from across the stream...now, I have seen grizzlies in a zoo, but to be alone, in the forests of BC and have one staring you down from about 20 yards...is, well, different. The first thing I did was clap the legs of my tripod together and spin the bottom grommets so all the sharp points were sticking out, than got up slowly and started walking to the trail backwards...slowly...and when I got to the trail, basically jogged for about a mile before feeling semi safe...and looked over my shoulder all the way home...didn't even think of taking a picture!!!....good times, thanks for the memories. - and why I did that with my tripod - I was young, I could fight off a big grizzly, hell, those little points were at least 1/8 of an inch long. Hahhhaaaaa, again - thanks for the memories.

Sorry for the long story that has nothing to do with the photo.
I guess the moral of the story is - you got the shot, I didn't.
Great work.
John

- and I do like the second WS also, but think, overall the original and other WS are pretty close. Maybe a bit more "technical" correctness to the WS but their still both very good. John

UnTrained (0) 2007-08-20 2:50

Hi John,
I like all three of them as they all have a unique impression. The playing one alone, the leaving three and this group as the most astonishing, because regularly they live alone, don't they? The best composed is the playing one for me.
Lieben Gruss, Ulf

evanrizo (462) 2007-08-20 3:16

Hi John!
Can you go so clear to them?!
I like bears very much, I never seen a bear so close, only in photos.
Very good cropped with very good light.
Cheers
Evan
later...

vinu (129) 2007-08-20 14:52

Hi John.
Brave ...You are very brave to be there so near.
Good shot.
Regards,
vinushka

jurek1951 (42198) 2007-08-20 21:11

Hi John,
very nice picture! Godd compo and DOF,wonderful scene,Beautiful composition with nice colours,
Georg

pboehringer (770) 2007-08-21 8:26

John, that would have been definitively an interesting walk ... through these bear infested place :-)
I'm sure that you would not have come outof this place intact. Nice documentary snapshot of the place. Also sad to see this beautiful animal locked up in what was original its free habitat.
Regards, Peter

danyy (0) 2007-08-24 2:15

Hello John,
rares les photos d'ours, il est vrai que les approcher est chose dangereuse. Je te trouve donc très courageux, d'avoir pris cette photo pour la partager avec nous.
Une photo bien sympa , ils ont l'air si calmes.

Regards,
Daniel.

rigoletto (34279) 2007-08-25 5:02

Hi John :)
So charming photo of this group of Teddy Bears.
The group seems to enjoy themselves and posing for you.
It is true prelude to the afternoon of a group of bears :))
Cheers,
Deniz

Polonaise (5802) 2007-09-07 5:11

Is it even humanly possible not to love this picture ?

Thrill of an emotion...

Calmness and relax of having them - the wild life- still around us.
Well and kicking.

Thanks John, for this beauty

george

Greg1949 (9011) 2007-09-17 18:08

John, four years ago we took our grand sons out to Mt Rushmore and of course we went through this park, and they loved it. Nice shots you have here and thanks for causing thoughts of our tri to surface again.

Greg

Photo Information

Copyright: John McLaird (jmcl) (14535)
Genre: Persone
Medium: Colore
Date Taken: 2007-08-02
Categories: Natura
Camera: Olympus E 300, 58mm circular polarizer
Esposizione: f/6.3, 1/125 secondi
Map: view
Versione Foto: Versione Originale, Workshop
Tema(i): Bears - cute and ferocious, Wildlife, The Black Hills [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2007-08-19 10:18