Coastal Brown Bear Cubs: Wanna Play? (Ursus arctos) Hallo Bay, Katmai National Park, Alaska. From my Ultimate Alaska Bear Boat Trip. Image Copyright ©Christopher Dodds. Sony Alpha a9 Mirrorless camera & Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 G Master OSS Lens with Sony FE 2X Teleconverter @764mm ISO 1,600, f/11 @ 1/1,000s Manual exposure. Full Frame image. Join me in Alaska for the Ultimate Brown Bears Galore Workshop Adventure. LEARN MORE HERE.
The Katmai Coast Ultimate Brown Bear workshop is a magical experience if you dream of getting up close and personal with Coastal Brown Bears; Mothers often bring their cubs to my groups for free babysitting services :)
These two siblings are about to erupt into a frenzied playful tussle, a necessary lesson to help them survive alone in the wild.
This image was created hand-held using my Sony a9 camera with the Sony 100-400mm zoom lens with a doubler attached.
Coyote siblings playing (Canis latrans) from my recent Best of Bosque workshop. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio, New Mexico, USA. Image Copyright ©Christopher Dodds. Sony Alpha alpha 1 Mirrorless camera & Sony FE 600mm f/4 G Master OSS Lens with Sony FE 2X Teleconverter @1,200mm ISO 2,500, f/8 @ 1/2,500s Manual exposure. Animal eye auto-focus. Full Frame image.
We had some awesome experiences with this pair of Coyotes during my recent Best of Bosque workshop at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, USA. Given the playful nature of their interactions that we watched, I think it is fair to assume they were siblings born this past April.
My experience at the refuge this year was absolutely awesome. Word spread quickly that the drought limited the amount of wetland habitat and the failure of the crops that were planted to feed the migrating Sandhill Cranes and Geese. While this did mean there were limitations on the number of locations for good photography, the available options were awesome. I have never seen so few people in the refuge during migration.
Coastal Brown Bears Jousting (Ursus arctos) Hallo Bay, Katmai National Park, Alaska. From my Ultimate Alaska Bear Boat Trip. Image Copyright ©Christopher Dodds. Sony Alpha a9 Mirrorless camera & Sony FE 400mm f/2.8 G Master OSS Lens with Sony FE 1.4X Teleconverter @560mm ISO 2,500, f/5.6 @ 1/1,250s Manual exposure.
We spent nearly two hours with these two siblings jousting in Hallo Bay in the fog during my Ultimate Coastal Brown Bear Boat trip last June. Shooting at 20FPS when the action was hot and heavy left us with more images than some knew what to do with. To quickly cull the images down to a manageable portfolio, I always look for captivating expressions and at least one eye visible on each bear. I find Adobe Bridge (included in my the photographer’s subscription) renders the best quality previews from my Sony files; and they render much quicker than anything else I have tested on my Mac.