Brown Bear Charging Through River Toward Camera, Katmai
Katmai National Park and Preserve
A brown bear leaps through shallow river water in full stride, moving toward the camera as it chases a salmon. Bears hit river channels at surprising speed when they commit to a fish; the animal weighs several hundred pounds and yet for a moment it is almost fully airborne across the shallows. Photographing this kind of action takes a fast shutter, a long lens, and a willingness to burn frames. The narrow window when a bear is actually in the air is fractions of a second, and most attempts still end with a missed fish. Brown bear fishing, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Ursus arctos. Photo © copyright by Carl Donohue.