The Dance

Captured on the final morning of my first trip to Alaska, a mother teaches her second-year cub some sparring tactics. We had seen this pair a little earlier in the day and continued on to the river below. I had been concentrating on the bears who were fishing in the river as they prepared for the winter months ahead. At one point I turned to look behind me, in the distance I could see these two bears up on the tundra along the edge of a high riverbank. The two were actively sparring, it appeared to us like mom was using this as a teachable moment. In the midst of the action, the pair briefly paused in the stance you see here. As each shifted their weight from foot to foot, it almost appeared to me as if they were dancing with one another. Hence my title for the image, ‘The Dance’.

Images like this make me wish you had a massive screen to view it. This is the kind of image that looks incredible printed in large format, giving the viewer maximum impact. I have this one hanging in my own home.