Black Bear in Ontario

I just returned from the Ottawa Valley area of Ontario where I spent a week

photographing black bear with Outdoor Productions Canada. I met a few of their

guides at a medical photography conference in May and five of us booked for

their Black Bear Photography Workshop. I had the time of my life, spending an

entire week photographing black bear, also white-tailed deer from a blind at

about 20 feet. The food was fantastic and cooked over an open fire, the

accommodations very comfortable (tents), and the guides were all outstanding.

All five of us have reserved for the deer in rut week in November. I highly

recommend them to anyone. They are not yet advertising their excursions so if

you need or want quality black bear photography or video footage this is the

group to call. Just email me for thier contact information.

 

I'll also post my pics as soon as possible.

joke: i came to a sign in the road that said " bear left" so i went home

Look like a strange kind of advertisement to me.

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<I>I'll also post my pics as soon as possible.</I>

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So you shoot film and wait for pics to get back? In meantime right after returning from workshop you sign here and make post? Just curious.

Sounds a lot like astroturf to me. For shame!

Janes signed up today. Perhaps spam?

Thank you everyone for your kind and warm response.

 

I guess it isn't prudent for me to be waiting on my scala guy to come back from vacation to get my slides before I post is it? Maybe this forum gets spammed a lot and is making for some HUGE knee-jerking behavior, I don't know. You have to start with a post don't you - rather I start on a small biography?

 

I have been lurking and learning on this forum for a while - while nothing to contribute until now (a heads up), for a great time and experience.

Erica, sometimes people come here to make advertisement. Some readers like it some not. It is not quite right with forum rules. Personally I have nothing against it even that usually have not much interest to read it.

 

You signed up the same day and seems talking about some private guides taking people close to bears. How responsible those people are? 20 feet or 200 yards? What were you photographing from twenty feet: a bear's eye? Did you use a fisheye lens to get a bear in frame? Maybe you were too impatient with this post - I really want to see what kind of photos you took all week long from twenty feet. No joking.

Mark, I stand corrected. It was 20 yards, not 20 feet from a ground blind.

 

I primarily used a 70-210 lense and found the entire experience exilerating. The guides were quite professional and from what I understand most bowhunters shoot their bear from that distance. I will be more than happy to share my photo's with you and the rest on the forum.

 

I got great cub pictures as well, three with momma at a den site.

Forgot to ask. Are those animals wild or captive: one tame bear and one deer kept for show?

You already answered :)

Not at all Mark. I was moved to five bear locations throughout the week. In total I seen 14 bears at least plus the cubs at the den site. I saw tons of deer and managed to get a few shots of some doe's with this years fawns. I used a 80 to 400 Nikon lens for the deer shots. I also took marten shots, heron shots and tons of beaver shots. There was two beaver ponds close by.

 

I am a budding nature photographer not a zoo photographer. I feel anyone that works in the zoo shouldn't be called a nature photographer.

 

My opinion

Erica, I am sure you noticed that now when all information are added your post make much more sense. The only thing I might not like about those guides is that I sense they are more in hunting business then in photography and maybe trying to do something outside the hunting season. Correct me if I am wrong.

 

There is a nature photography (very wide term and zoos fits in it in one of the corners) and wildlife photography (zoos are out). Regards, Mark

"The only thing I might not like about those guides is that I sense they are more in hunting business then in photography and maybe trying to do something outside the hunting season. Correct me if I am wrong".

 

I am curious as to how did you come to that conclusion? My guide for the week was a videographer who does this part time for the company and works for the CBC full time.

 

BTW; you have to be in nature to observe and photograph nature. For the most part, zoo's are located in some pretty populated area around the world and not in nature. Z

Erica - you ( unwittingly perhaps ) rang alarm bells with your first post on the day that you registered trumpeting the virtues of Outdoor Productions Canada. It has been seen so often as a way people use to get free publicity for their own organisations and your original post contained no disclaimer as to involvement.

 

There are many people on the Nature Forum who are deeply concerned with wildlife ( in all its forms ) and you will come to understand their reticence. Many of them are outstanding wildlife photographers whose work and knowledge commands respect.

 

Welcome to the forum, but may I suggest that you tread lightly for a while ? :)