Repetition. That’s what wildlife photography is all about. Patience and repetition. With so many days spent out in the field, observing the same species and the same behavior, it’s always amazed me that mother nature is able to provide something new and exciting without fail. This was one such day!

Alaska summer days are LONG! When you have 18+ hours of daylight to work with each day, you’d think you’d run out of things to photograph. But that’s just not the case when you’re completely surrounded by bears! This particular day had just flown by so far. It was late evening and we’d been at it with the cameras for 14 hours already that day. We’d seen bears fishing, bears wrestling, running, napping and nursing! And now, in the last hours of daylight we sat with a beautiful mother bear and her cubs, watching as they tumbled all around while playing. Watching these bears is one of life’s true joys! This was very evident each time these energetic cubs would tumble around and hushed chuckles would emit from the group of photographers I was sharing this special moment with. 

Aside from one of these occasional chuckles, we watched these bears in silence as the sun continued its descent. I’ve rarely seen such vibrant light anywhere before, and that’s when it happened! The young cubs crossed in front of some beautiful mountains in the distance as they continued their roughhousing. Backgrounds, light, foregrounds, action, poses, angle, composition and so much more go into each image we wildlife photographers take. This was one time that everything aligned just perfectly! For a moment we all looked on in awe at the perfect scene in front of us. Weeks and weeks spent with the bears over the years, and mother nature was still providing new and breathtaking opportunities!