Fishermen

Hi Jim,

I've been looking at this since it came up for critique. I have liked it one minute, then not another, yet I didn't know why. So I kept looking.

What works for me: I do like the color treatment, light edges, old timey feel. The tone is nice and reminds me pleasantly of old documents. There a lovely detail in the fur, rocks, and water. The rear bear shaking is nice and the shakey water spray adds to the scene. Are the bears in the foreground cubs? There is a casual cohesion to them all, and they come across like a family. The gull in the rear seems to be waiting for leftovers. I also appreciate that this is a summer shot. So often we associate these bears with snow and ice.

What leaves me wanting: It feels too tightly cropped. They are big animals in a big environment and I want to see more of that. The image, to me, feels squeezed, hemmed in. I'm sure that the cropping is based on editorial decisions. They may be on the edge of the Churchill dump. One little stylistic inconsistency is the old timey feel on a bear with a very modern collar. OK, I'm nit picking on that one.

Overall, I like it. Thanks for sharing it.

Best Wishes,

Laura

Thanks for your thoughts Laura. The two bears in the foreground are indeed cubs. The previous day our guide told us that because of the shape of their neck, it was impossible to collar polar bears. When I asked the 'guide du jour', about the collar after this shoot, he gave me mumbo jumbo. I was there in August when the big attraction is beluga whales  and there aren't many bears around.. My take on the situation is that when people come to see whales in the summer, they are very disappointed if they don't also get to see a bear or two. I know that was my expectation. I suspect that the tour companies (in complicity with wildlife officials) go to great lengths to make sure summer visitors see bears in order to maintain a steady flow of tourist dollars. Thus the collar whether it lasts long or not. There are a couple other shots from this outing that show more of the surrounding environment. See: http://photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=1062931 

We were shooting from a zodiac out in the Hudson Bay and the water was choppy so this was all done handheld. Thx. again. Jim