BY JIM ROBERTSON, AN ETHICAL PHOTOGRAPHER
This grizzly bear (aka Alaska brown bear) whose image I “captured” here was never confined, prodded or restricted in any way for this “shot.” She was in fact going about her business as though I weren’t even there, cashing in on a bountiful salmon run following the incoming tide off the Shelikof Strait. Although it looks like she’s staring into the camera, she’s actually focusing on a fish struggling upstream beyond where I was crouched nearby.
To a hunter, the temptation to blast away and take home the trophy head or hide would have been overwhelming. But as a wildlife photographer, I got all I could hope for from the encounter, including the satisfaction that the bear would live out her life free of human greed and exploitation while passing her genes, knowledge and know-how on to future free-living ursines.
————————
To see more amazing photography by Jim Robertson, please visit: http://www.animalsinthewild.org