Kukak Brown Bear 50

“Who’s a happy bear?” That is what I would say to a big-old male brown bear who was sitting by the river during my expedition to the Katmai Coast last August. The bears always seemed so casual as they waited for salmon to pretty much swim into their mouths. I spent a lot of time watching them sleep with one eye open, which doesn’t make for a great picture. However, every once in a while one would “do something”, like this bear sitting on its haunches itching a nagging scratch. I got down really low to the ground with my camera in order to render the distant trees as pleasing bokeh. I created this image with my Canon 7D and 500mm f4 IS lens. This image is a single-exposure which required minimal processing using Aperture 3 and Photoshop CS5.