Olympic Forest, & a black bear

During our trip, the scenery in the Olympic National Forest was breathtaking just about every day, from sunrise to sunset. It only seriously rained one day, and other than that, we were treated to some pretty spectacular views on the Duckabush River, where Vandra's parents have had a place since 1989. We saw some very neat sunrises, always wonderful sunsets, and an unexpected surprise, but more on that in a minute.

We were treated to this view just about every morning - fogged over mountains, but typically between 11 and noon, the fog would burn off. On this day it didn't, and I loved how the fog just seemed to literally hang in the trees. I need to get an ND filter for shots like these; I had to lighten this image significantly in Photoshop, but for your edification, here's the exposure information...

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS lens, 1/500 sec., f3.5, ISO 100

Vandra's parents like to call this "The Point," or "Inspiration Point" as a joke. It's a concrete bench overlooking the river, and this little area is dedicated to my in laws' fathers. I took this just as the sun was setting. This is probably another example of when an ND filter really would have come in handy, but I lightened it in Photoshop to make it a passable image.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 24-70 f2.8L lens, 1/80 sec., f6.3, ISO 400

The image here doesn't do the view justice, but the sunsets were wonderful. This was taken between 5 and 6 in the evening.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS lens, 1/125 sec., f10, ISO 400

This was a totally unexpected treat, and arguably my greatest thrill as a photographer. Me, Ralph and Davis had gone off to shoot some shotguns a little further away from the house when Vandra's Aunt Chris came running up to us, her hands in the air. "There's a big bear right across the river up in a tree, and we thought you'd want to come and take a look." I'm sure glad she came to get us (Thanks, Chris!), because I managed to get my first-ever picture of a bear in the wild.

This peaceful black bear was just across the river from us, maybe a few hundred yards away. All I can say is, thank God for image stabilized lenses! It was later in the day, and I was very excited to have the opportunity to photograph a bear in the wild, so I probably wasn't holding the camera as steady as I could have (and should have) been, and there was little time to run and get my tripod. However, V's parents have a few big logs that serve as great tables, and I carried one of them over by the river to steady myself. This was my first outing with my image stabilized lens, and I didn't want to completely trust this unique opportunity to technology.

Of all the images I have of the bear, this one is my favorite. He seems to be looking right at us. After looking black bears up on the Internet, I discovered that they are pretty gentle compared to polar bears, grizzlies, kodiaks, etc. That gave me just a bit of comfort, but I swear, from the time we saw the bear until we left, whenever I ran outside to relieve myself in the dark, let's just say I didn't waste a whole lot of time.

Anyway, he stayed in the tree for a good half hour, eating leaves, walking around on the seemingly very thin branches, and generally ignoring us. Every once in a while he's look over, but we didn't bother him, and he didn't bother us. Eventually, he climbed down the tree (almost falling at one point), disappearing into the very thick forest.

I would have given my eye teeth for a 400mm lens, but my Canon 70-200mm f2.8L lens did the trick, with a great deal of cropping and enlarging, and I do mean a great deal. This is where the EOS 5D really earned its stripes. I literally cropped 'til I dropped to get a decent, workable image, but I'm just happy I had the megapixels to do it.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS lens, 1/200 sec., f3.2, ISO 800