Wanted On Voyage

2025

Image Story

I'd love to get people away from the idea that the only way to photograph wildlife is from as low, and as close as possible.

There is a current belief in wildlife photography that the closer you are to your subject and the lower your camera in relation to it, then the better your image will be. This is false news.

While there are often times that this works, indeed I have embraced it regularly over the years, it is not the only way to create powerful images. On this particular day, in Lake Clarke, Alaska, we were heavily restricted on where we could or more importantly, could not venture. Land here is not like a national park, where you can roam in most areas, we were allowed only on paths and prescribed viewing areas. Add to this some sideways rain and winds howling under the hood of your rain coat and it was a tough shooting experience.

In Alaska the landscape plays as significant a part in the narrative as the wildlife. Spruce trees, one of the toughest evergreens enveloping the northern hemisphere, reach higher than any conifer I’ve seen, while silver birch wriggle towards the light below their canopy. Indeed it is the light on these little deciduous troopers that makes the image for me - it draws your eye from the canopy to the earth, to where the bear roams.

Given the chance yes, I would absolutely have got closer to the bear, the backdrop in Lake Clarke is stunning, I could picture dozens of images in front of me - many of which required at least a little more proximity to the bruin, but it was not to be and instead the image I had to come up with might be my favourite. It now sits on the wall at home along side To The Ends Of The Earth, a polar bear image with a similar premise. They make quite the pair.