ENTRY DESCRIPTION
This image was taken in 2025 near Homer, Alaska. In late summer in Alaska, hundreds of Brown Bears converge on rivers and streams to catch salmon swimming upstream to spawn. When looking for a fish or checking out other bears, a bear will often stand up - if it has just been fishing, as this bear was, large amounts of water stream out of their coat. Despite the generally cloudy skies, the bear was gently sidelit from the left. The background is the side of a mountain covered in dark conifer trees. This particular bear was a favorite, named 'Soup', who often came close to us and allowed full-frame images.

AUTHOR
I have been curious about nature for as long as I can remember (my parents said at
least from the age of 4). My first camera was a small cheap plastic Kodak, but I
delighted in taking pictures of life in our garden. Over time, my equipment has
become fancier and my destinations more distant, but I still revel in the joy of
interacting with the natural world through my camera. I chose a career of studying
the behavior and ecology of animals, mostly primates, as a way of spending as
much time in nature as possible while still getting paid to do so! I used photographs
to document my study animals and their natural history, but had too little time to
develop my photography to the next level. Upon retiring from academia in 2018, I
devoted myself fully to improving my wildlife photography, taking advantage of my
knowledge of animal behavior. The most difficult challenge was to transition from
technical mastery of the camera to being a creative graphic artist. I could not have
succeeded without the mentorship of several outstanding photographers, most
recently Tin Man Lee, for whose inspiration and insights I am deeply grateful.

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