I don't normally post my photos here, but I have been learning from the forum for a few years. My money shots are usually in my studio shooting commercial product photography. I just returned from about a week visiting my home turf in Montana. Fly fishing is my favorite reason to go back home these days since there aren't many relatives or friends left to visit. This trip resulted in a very disappointing fly fishing experience. Water was running pretty low this late in the year and my go to stream was suffering from an earlier blowout of an old mine that polluted the water causing warnings about not eating the fish for awhile. The bottom line is fishing was not good. I decided to wander a little farther afield in the hopes of finding some fishing excitement. During one of those excursions I found myself on a small gravel road near a creek that had some promise for trout. My son was driving and he suddenly came to a stop and asked if "that was a bear". I looked and confirmed that he had spotted a bear in tall grass at about 30 yards adjacent to the road. I rolled down my window and began shooting with my Canon 28-300 L lens. I took a few shots and then mounted my Tamron 150-600mm lens on the 5DMK4 and continued shooting. I was surprised that the bear didn't beat a path away from us, but she rather just held her ground and gave us a serious look. My son then spotted the reason for her focus on us. She had two cubs high in a large tree about 10 yards away from her. The position of the cubs and momma was lateral to us and the gravel road. I told my son to keep an eye on momma while I shot a few frames of the cubs and then her. I also suggested that we keep the motor running because momma was quite capable of covering the 30 yards between her and us rather quickly if she objected to our being there. Shooting hand-held in RAW, I was able to get a number of shots before she summoned the kids to come down and she hustled them off into the woods. I'm quite aware of some failings in my technique, however, I thought I would share what I thought was a rare opportunity to capture a mother bear and cubs in a wild setting from a short distance. Suggestions for what I could have done to improve the results are welcome, but I am pleased with the results of the experience. I admit to a bit of what we used to call buck fever and, in hindsight, I would have done some things differently. I hope you find these enjoyable.

I don't normally post my photos here, but I have been learning from the forum for a few years. My money shots are usually in my studio shooting commercial product photography. I just returned from about a week visiting my home turf in Montana. Fly fishing is my favorite reason to go back home these days since there aren't many relatives or friends left to visit. This trip resulted in a very disappointing fly fishing experience. Water was running pretty low this late in the year and my go to stream was suffering from an earlier blowout of an old mine that polluted the water causing warnings about not eating the fish for awhile. The bottom line is fishing was not good. I decided to wander a little farther afield in the hopes of finding some fishing excitement. During one of those excursions I found myself on a small gravel road near a creek that had some promise for trout. My son was driving and he suddenly came to a stop and asked if "that was a bear". I looked and confirmed that he had spotted a bear in tall grass at about 30 yards adjacent to the road. I rolled down my window and began shooting with my Canon 28-300 L lens. I took a few shots and then mounted my Tamron 150-600mm lens on the 5DMK4 and continued shooting. I was surprised that the bear didn't beat a path away from us, but she rather just held her ground and gave us a serious look. My son then spotted the reason for her focus on us. She had two cubs high in a large tree about 10 yards away from her. The position of the cubs and momma was lateral to us and the gravel road. I told my son to keep an eye on momma while I shot a few frames of the cubs and then her. I also suggested that we keep the motor running because momma was quite capable of covering the 30 yards between her and us rather quickly if she objected to our being there. Shooting hand-held in RAW, I was able to get a number of shots before she summoned the kids to come down and she hustled them off into the woods. I'm quite aware of some failings in my technique, however, I thought I would share what I thought was a rare opportunity to capture a mother bear and cubs in a wild setting from a short distance. Suggestions for what I could have done to improve the results are welcome, but I am pleased with the results of the experience. I admit to a bit of what we used to call buck fever and, in hindsight, I would have done some things differently. I hope you find these enjoyable.