Polar Bears in Churchill

A couple trips to Churchill, MB down...three more to go. Bears have been putting on quite a show!

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I love #4 - thanks for sharing!

By the way, it would be nice to se what focal length you shot each of these at.
Did you use the same lens for each of the photos? If so, what lens was it? Was it a zoom? If so, which one? What focal length did you use for each of the images that you posted?
If you used a couple or a few different lenses, which ones were they?

While shooting the bears, were there times you wished you had a longer focal length? Were there times you wish you had a shorter focal length?

Photographing bears in Churchill interests me so much, I can't help but to want to hear the details, both about the gear used and 'the story behind the photos', so to speak. Anything you can share about your experiences with the bears, or about the trip in general, would be very interesting to me.

What was the weather like while you were there? During your stay, was there ever any fresh snow? Was there any hoar frost? How many days did you have with the bears?

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Sigh. Super shots, I HAVE to get up there. I'm like Tom, any more details would be greatly appreciated. I'm on a mailing list for one of the tour outfits and it's killing me that I haven't been up yet. The snow shots are super, but I also saw one photographer's pics from September with the bears frolicking in some fireweed, and they were awesome too, incredible contrast between the white polar bears and the purple fireweed and greenery. Do you have a favourite month and week to go up? Did you overnite in Winnipeg first? How many days do you stay?

Churchill is a place that is near and dear to my heart. I spend polar bear season going back and forth between there and winnipeg with guests and then I go back to churchill in the Jan-March timeframe for aurora season. It gets a little crazy during bear season so you have to be ready to deal with crowds of people but that is part of the experience.

So I switched to an olympus EM-1 (2x crop) a couple years ago and just picked up the 300 f4 with the 1.4 extender which puts it at something over 800 mm f5.6. I think all of these shots were taking using some version of the 300 + 1.4x handheld. There was a lot of taking the 1.4x extender on and off. The problem with Churchill is that the bears can be between 500 yards and right in your face so you have to be ready for anything ( a good problem to have). Im planning on picking up the em-1 mk II when it comes out and having the 300 on it, the 40-150 on the old one and then an iPhone. I switched because I was tired of lugging gear everywhere.

It is impossible to use a tripod on the vehicles we use so being able to hand hold something at 800mm is a nice feature to have.

I;m liking the long reach so far so you can get good pics before the angle gets too steep as they come closer to the rovers. But several times I was definitely caught with too much lens on.

I lead trips up there so i end up doing 5 trips up during a 6 week season. Each trip has several days out on the rovers and each day is different. Normally there is snow by halloween but i wouldn't bet on that for this year.

there are more and more people going up and doing it on their own in rent a cars etc which is not necessarily good for the bears as they are put more at ease by consistent human behavior and as this human behavior becomes more erratic it could lead to problems. There are lots of good guides up there and some not so good ones. it can be hard to tell them apart.

All of these shots were taken in two days. both of those family groups were out in "buggy land" where only the big rover vehicles have permits to go. the company I work for fills the rovers we book half way so everybody gets a window seat. which is pretty amazing.

It is one of those places you have to see to believe. Bears, foxes, ptarmigan, seem to be around every corner this year.

I will post some more pics later of some "road bears" that we ran into while not on the rovers.

More to come...

drewhh wrote in post #18167530
Churchill is a place that is near and dear to my heart. I spend polar bear season going back and forth between there and winnipeg with guests and then I go back to churchill in the Jan-March timeframe for aurora season. It gets a little crazy during bear season so you have to be ready to deal with crowds of people but that is part of the experience.

So I switched to an olympus EM-1 (2x crop) a couple years ago and just picked up the 300 f4 with the 1.4 extender which puts it at something over 800 mm f5.6. I think all of these shots were taking using some version of the 300 + 1.4x handheld. There was a lot of taking the 1.4x extender on and off. The problem with Churchill is that the bears can be between 500 yards and right in your face so you have to be ready for anything ( a good problem to have). Im planning on picking up the em-1 mk II when it comes out and having the 300 on it, the 40-150 on the old one and then an iPhone. I switched because I was tired of lugging gear everywhere.

It is impossible to use a tripod on the vehicles we use so being able to hand hold something at 800mm is a nice feature to have.

I;m liking the long reach so far so you can get good pics before the angle gets too steep as they come closer to the rovers. But several times I was definitely caught with too much lens on.

I lead trips up there so i end up doing 5 trips up during a 6 week season. Each trip has several days out on the rovers and each day is different. Normally there is snow by halloween but i wouldn't bet on that for this year.

there are more and more people going up and doing it on their own in rent a cars etc which is not necessarily good for the bears as they are put more at ease by consistent human behavior and as this human behavior becomes more erratic it could lead to problems. There are lots of good guides up there and some not so good ones. it can be hard to tell them apart.

All of these shots were taken in two days. both of those family groups were out in "buggy land" where only the big rover vehicles have permits to go. the company I work for fills the rovers we book half way so everybody gets a window seat. which is pretty amazing.

It is one of those places you have to see to believe. Bears, foxes, ptarmigan, seem to be around every corner this year.

I will post some more pics later of some "road bears" that we ran into while not on the rovers.

More to come...

EDIT: Fix post/question:
Is there a particular window within the season that you'd recommend trying to hit? Also, any tips on picking out tour groups/guides?

You OK Eric? ߘ

Wallace River wrote in post #18167541
You OK Eric? ߘ

I'm going to have to go with no....:p Thanks, Ian. Post fixed.

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Wow, Drew - such a great amount of information - thank you so much!

drewhh wrote in post #18167530
It gets a little crazy during bear season so you have to be ready to deal with crowds of people but that is part of the experience.

I'm liking the long reach so far so you can get good pics before the angle gets too steep as they come closer to the rovers.

I will post some more pics later of some "road bears" that we ran into while not on the rovers.

So, it is possible, I suppose, to shoot the bears from afoot?

Are people allowed to roam wherever they wish, as they please, or is it the law that you have to stay on the roads, or have to stay in a vehicle in certain places, etc. Is it possible to roam real far away from the established areas where people are, and get off totally alone, so that one can photograph the bears without others about?

I ask, because Yellowstone is a very crowded place, and yet I am always able to get away totally alone, and have the animals to myself. Also, in Denali, it is very crowded with people, yet my friends that go there hike a little and are totally alone, and also have the bears and moose and grouse there totally to themselves, with no other humans anywhere within view. Is this type of photography possible with Polar Bears in the greater Churchill area, if one is willing to hike a couple of miles?

Is it possible to bring (or rent) a sea kayak or other small watercraft, and use it to pursue the bears as one would wish, from the water, without a lot of regulations cramping one's style? If so, which type of watercraft would you most recommend?

drewhh wrote in post #18167530
It is one of those places you have to see to believe. Bears, foxes, ptarmigan, seem to be around every corner this year.

That sounds absolutely awesome! I think I would value a chance to photograph a Ptarmigan or an Arctic Fox just as much as I would value a session with a Polar Bear. If there are strict regulations about photographing the bears, are the same level of regulations in effect for these other animals? Or are the rules (if any) much more relaxed when it comes to other wildlife?

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Great photos Drew. #4's the money shot for me.

For the other posters asking questions......I went to Churchill a couple of years ago and while we had a great time and seen quite a few bears I'd dearly love to go back but next time i'd be looking at this

http://www.churchillwi​ld.com/

a bit pricey i know but i think this would be so much better than what we did before

yea...they do some really cool stuff. I'd go on that one for sure.

some more from Churchill. third trip of the season. Snow has come and gone and come and gone. Unseasonably warm. I think all of these are with the m zuiko 300 f4 plus a 1.4 extender on the EM1.
shake off

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