Grizzly bear cubs are some of the most photographed animals in Alaska, and for good reason. They're curious, clumsy, expressive, and constantly in motion. At Katmai National Park, where I've spent more time with coastal brown bears than I can count, the cubs are a highlight of every season. Spring cubs stay close to their mothers, nursing and play-fighting in the sedge flats. By midsummer they're learning to fish, usually badly, tumbling into the current and coming up empty while mom pulls salmon after salmon out of the river. By fall, the older cubs are more independent but still full of personality. Every stage is worth photographing.
These grizzly bear cub photos span years of fieldwork at Katmai. Some were made from the established viewing platforms at Brooks Falls. I've been photographing brown bears of Katmai for nearly 30 years now.
Others came from quieter stretches of river and coastline where the bears had more space and I had more room to work. The cubs in these images range from spring cubs of the year, still small enough to ride on mom's back, to two-year-olds nearing independence. Brown bear family dynamics are endlessly interesting. Siblings wrestle, chase each other through shallow water, and test boundaries with their mothers in ways that look remarkably familiar to anyone who's raised kids.
Photographing bear cubs well takes patience and restraint. The temptation is always to shoot tight, fill the frame with that face. But some of my favorite images in this gallery pull back to show the cub in context: a tiny bear against a massive Alaska landscape, or a family group working a stretch of river together. The relationship between the cubs and their mother, and between the bears and the landscape they live in, is what makes these photographs more than just cute animal pictures. I want you to see what it's actually like to be there.
