Hi folks ... do not know why i kept this one so long under the hood .
The situation was awesome , thrilling and just great experience !!!!!
It was great day on Kamtchatka in terms of bear encounters , easy though , as we had just the Kambalnaya River as our main goal . Just the 8 photogs of the group and the russian forester who went with us for our safety .... the weather was less good though , more or less pouring rain for something like 3-4 hours . The bears did not care , as the photogs did for the first 2-3 hours .... the one after the other gave up , frustrated . Some folks cameras almost died due to the heavy rain .... others just went foggy inside .
making slowly the way back to camp .... by walking along the river ... we came across a small rapid . Some folks stopped and asked if we can go shooting here .... the forester said yes . So we went down the river bank and waited for salmon and bear .... sitting there .... being already sucking wet . One after the other gave up ... i was the last one who stood the ground , still hoping .... the group wanted to go .... me not !!!
The problem is , the rules say , the group has to together ...... so folks had to wait for me and were already frustrated and telling me that i should finish my photographic business . The forester was staying behind me .... while was shooting the bears in poor weather conditions .
All of a sudden ... the male bear in the image started running towards me ..... i just started shooting without really seeing what i am photographing as the viewfinder was foggy , my glasses more or less foggy and smudge due to rain/ dirt and other things . Finally i managed to get some shots that came out relatively ok .... some completely OOF due to the AF not locking on the head . On the last frames i just had water / splashes and the neck of the bear .... LOL . He was close ...
I was thrilled and the bear too .... finally realising ... how close he came to me , without being successful with the salmon . But he just looked at me .... and passed on .
For me a great memory .... that i will never ever forget !!!
Canon EOS 1Dx
Ef 500 IS L II
Tripod
F 5 ; Iso 6400 ; 1/1600 sec ; man exp and auto iso . Perfectly shot ETTR with some highlights being clipped in the water .
Processed with DPP 4 and PSCC 2020 ; slight cropped from RHS and top for the 5x7 crop .
Brownie from Kamtchatka in close range ....
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