paul hobson wildlife photography

paul hobson wildlife photography

Brown Bears, Finland

In July 2006 I spent 3 nights in a hide deep in the Finnish forest photographing European brown bears. We arrived at the hide at 4.00 pm each day and spent the whole night enthralled by up to 10 brown bears. The bears are baited with salmon and arrive on cue almost as soon as we were in the hide, indeed on 2 days one bear was actually waiting for us to get started! Light levels allowed photography until about 10.00 pm, and of course the ability to up the ISO increased our flexibility.

The best shots were often taken when the sun wasn't shining, though later in the evening low beams of golden light when they fell onto a bear enhanced the image. We were lucky because 2 females had 3 cubs each, and whilst they were always very nervous of other bears they did linger at the sides of the hide on 2 occasions. When the cubs are frightened they adopt one of 2 policies, climb the nearest tree or beat a hasty retreat! The bears ranged in age and size, and surprisingly also colour, I did not expect the younger adults to look so grey.

All the images are taken with an EOS 1D mk 11 mainly with a 70-200mm 2.8, though occasionally with a 300mm. ISO varied from 200 to 800.