Bear in Mind, Patience is Essential

 

Black Bear, Great Smoky Mountain National Park

 I must admit that one of my many shortcomings in photography is often a lack of patience when photographing wildlife.   In my everyday life, I am a Type A personality and I require efficieny, expedient work and a support staff that will do as I say quickly.  Mother nature does not always listen to me nor is she very efficient at times.  For me, I must alter my state of mind when I am in the field and develop a sense of patience that does not often come easily to me.  That being said, I wanted to shoot black bear of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park so I planned an overnight trip to the Cades Cove area the Great Smoky Mountain National Park to see if I could track down the black bear of the Great Smoky Mountains.  As I planned I found that all aspects required patience so I followed the following guidelines:

1. Research.  You wouldn’t plan a family vacation without researching the hotels, flights, and destinations.  Well the same goes for photography. Bears and especially sows with cubs seem to stake out particular areas so to increase the likelihood of seeing  a bear you must do your research. Aside from the obvious National Park website, I find that the Social Media sites, Facebook and Twitter, have more up to date information from people who are actually in the park. 

Black Bear Cub sizes up the photographer, me, taking his picture

The Great Smoky Mountain Association’s Facebook page ( www.facebook.com/GreatSmokyMountainsAssociation)  has a wealth of information and its followers have a love the park they are willing to share. There you will find up to date photographs of bears and other images from the park. I saw one shot in particular and emailed, through Facebook, the poster of that photograph who told me the general location of photograph. I planned my first stop to be in that general vicinity.  Next, I sent a tweet via Twitter to the Park Information Twitter account  @gsmnp asking about general weather conditions and potential locations.  I now had my location planned.

2.  Don’t Be Late for Work. Wildlife seems to be most active in the early morning and the late evening.  Sleeping in 30 minutes may be the difference of seeing an animal and missing out. Cades Cove is closed to motor vehicles before 7am and some mornings before 10am. Because I wanted to be the first on site and beat the rush so to speak, I parked at the Cades Cove parking area and hiked into the area.  After about two miles into the Cades Cove Loop I spotted a dark spot across the way sitting up high on her haunches.  I stared at her and she stared at me.  Quietly I set up my gear from a safe distance and allowed the sow to be comfortable with me.   As she became comfortable she decided to look for her breakfast and when she stood up she reveled a cub trailing behind her every move.

3. Patience.  If you are lucky enough to get into shooting range of an animal such as the bear then it is crucial to be patient and wait for the animal to do something of interest. If you have ever photographed a black bear in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, then it is  likely you have the infamous “bear-butt” shot from when the bear starts to walk away from you.  I kneeled down in the field and simply waited….and waited….and waited some more. During the wait the cub began to play, the mother began

A mother black bear wrestles with her young cub in Cades Cove

to eat and the cub, which I am convinced was half monkey, climbed the various deciduous trees of the Cades Cove area. I don’t want the animal snap shot. I want the shot of the animal doing something to which we can relate: eating, sleeping, playing, caring for their young, etc.

4.  Be safe.  Most importantly, be safe in your shooting of animals.  They are called “wild”life for a reason and are often unpredictable. By the time I had finished shooting or actually, by the time the sow had enough of being photographed, there were at least 50 onlookers, one park volunteer and me.  It is important to be safe and not approach the animals for your safety but for their safety as well. Some people may not be as considerate as you and will approach animals closerthen they should holding their cell phone in hand trying to get a head shot of the bear.  I shoot with a long lens to allow me to keep at a safe distance for my safety but so as not to disturb the animal. If you are approaching the animal and it starts to move away from your approach then you are likely in its space. Remember the Great Smoky Mountain Park Ranger Rule is keep back at least 50 yards. 

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