Black bear

We visited Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park, Washington. We had not seen a bear during our trip but on the way up to the ridge I had kept the Bigma on the camera, just in case. But all we did was photograph the scenery, so I had to keep changing lenses. In the end I left the 17-70 on the camera, and joked as we drove back down that now we would see a bear. We turned a corner, and sure enough grazing at the side of the road was a bear! I hastily changed lenses again.

These are all hand-held - he was literally across the road from us. We used the car as a little protection but he wasn't disturbed by our presence at all. It was a magical moment, and although several cars passed while we were watching him, he was ours and ours alone. No-one else stopped.

Lighting was tricky - full sunlight so the dried grasses are overexposed, plus on the last two a background of deep snow. There are twigs in the way on a couple of the photos, but I am not planning on removing them, as I wouldn't do a good enough job of it in PSE.

[IMG]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c205/Bargwynbu/Pacific%20Northwest%20USA/Bear1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c205/Bargwynbu/Pacific%20Northwest%20USA/Bear2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c205/Bargwynbu/Pacific%20Northwest%20USA/Bear3.jpg[/IMG]

He was frightened by a huge camper that went past and moved higher up:
[IMG]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c205/Bargwynbu/Pacific%20Northwest%20USA/Bear4.jpg[/IMG]

Just after this photo he turned and vanished into the undergrowth:
[IMG]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c205/Bargwynbu/Pacific%20Northwest%20USA/Bear5.jpg[/IMG]

He looks like King of the forest...how very nice that you had him all to yourself. It is sooo amazing to see these creatures in the wild...Yesterday I myself shot:shockPhotgraphed that is) a fox as he was hunting mouse...

Great moment captured well Gwyn