How I travelled from London to Tennessee in search of Black Bears
It’s long, been a dream of mine to travel to America and photograph one of their larger species of mammal. The list I originally made included, bobcats, mountain lions, red wolves, elk, deer, Grizzly Bear and black bear.
As I’m sure many wildlife photography is will tell you, not every trip goes your way. No matter how many plans, how much research, how many visits you complete. Wildlife photography it’s just something that cannot always be fully controlled. On this trip to America I found that out the hard way.
I was given the opportunity to travel to the United States and in particular travel to Tennessee in early January, though it’s often fought that black bears hibernate, according to studies, they actually topor. Which is a voluntary state of hibernation, meaning that sometimes bears will appear in the middle of winter searching for food. I knew that on my travels, I wanted to go to the smoky mountains. Having done some research and spoken to the locals. This area seemed to hold the most promise for me, finding a bear to photograph, I took the time to look at some different areas to stay the three most popular Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Townsend, each one differs dramatically from the last. The selection I made with based solely on recent bear sightings. On January 30th, 2022 a black bear was filmed walking through a hotel complex in the centre of Gatlinburg and so that’s where I went.
Arriving in Gatlinburg
Arrived in Gatlinburg in the evening, checked into the hotel and began to map out the journey for the next day. I’d been told that the best place to see bears in the smoky mountains, is a place called, Cades Cove. I placed a lot of faith in chance and set out at sunrise in search of a bear.
The moment it all changed for me
After two days searching for a bear and the results turning up nothing, I actually believed that I’d wasted a trip and that the video was not going to work, so I considered giving it up and going in search of another, subject to try and make a video. The next morning I was up at dawn and heading straight for Cades Cove as I climb to the top of the hill in the car. I looked out the window and saw a spectacular panoramic view and so I decided to turn off the road into a parking area to grab a couple of photos to use as stock, it was in these moments that a Pileated woodpecker just happened to land on the tree behind me and catch my eye. As I turned to the car. Fumbling around in my backpack, trying to make sure I got the perfect lens and camera combo whilst also keeping the woodpecker in sight, I realised that actually, maybe there was more than just bears at this location.
Cades Cove
Cades Cove is a loop road that’s 11 miles long and has various points at which there are places to see more areas to hike. I spent pretty much the entirety of the first two days driving in circles looking for any sign that there are bears active in the area there a physical sign posts and notices from Park Rangers to say that they were active bears in the Abrams falls area. And so Camera in hand, it was time to put on my hiking shoes and head into the woods. The hike it self takes approximately 2 to 3 hours start to finish and is of moderate difficulty. Add onto that 24 kg of camera equipment on my back and now all of a sudden it’s slightly more intense.
Abrams Falls Trail
As I hiked to the waterfall, I had complete tunnel vision. All I wanted to see was a bear and the matter what else happened around me I neglected to pay attention and I think that was probably my biggest mistake from this trip. Looking back now I’ve returned home, I’m almost certain that I missed more than one thing that I would’ve found completely fascinating, as I got to the waterfall, I realised that despite the fact, I still hadn’t seen a bear environment that I was in was pretty breathtaking and so I took it upon myself to try and capture that moment in a photograph that will enable anybody viewing it to teleport themselves for a moment or two.
Getting the shot
I set up the Sony FX3 with the 24- 70G master lens, and had it filming me whilst I use the Sony a7riv to capture the photo. In the past, I’ve been a canon user, and still had a few of my order. Canon lenses that I use with a converter for the Sony. So as much as I would’ve loved to have the Sony 16-35 lens, it fell on my Canon 16-35 F4L to capture fitted with a variable ND filter and began the trial and error exposure settings to achieve the result I was looking for. I wanted to incorporate a surrealist style to this image, using a Long Exposure to create a dreamy and constant motion for the water as it went over the falls and filtered into the creek. I waited until the mist from the waterfall with catching with the rays of the Sun, and then took my photo.
We began the hike back to the car, and this time I made a point of checking all the trees for signs of birds and small mammals. A long hike, I spotted several different species, and did my best to capture an image of each right by the car park at the lowest point, I spotted this Bluejay, I hadn’t seen one in the trip so far and I managed to get a couple of shots just as a record.
finding these creatures in the wild environment and demonstrating natural behaviours with a really rewarding experience, I am saddened that I wasn’t able to find a black bear to photograph but looking back through the images, I’m incredibly grateful for the experience, it’s something I’ll never forget.