27 Jun 12. Of all the "performers" we encountered during our Mexican Rivera cruise, Jan's favorite was an individual who was dressed as a waiter carrying a tray of drinks who, having slipped on a banana peel, was falling over backwards towards the ground. He remained in this position for as long as we observed him twitching nary a muscle presenting a remarkable sight. How much he earned for this amazing display of dexterity I have no idea, but I'm of the opinion that whatever amount hr garnered, especially on a hot summer day, he truly earned. ISO 200; 1/400 sec @ f / 8.
28 Jun 12. With Wednesday turning out to be a beautiful day, we decided to venture out into the early afternoon weather and take a break from the house. And as my neighbor had seen two bears already this past week and we none, I felt a need to do a bit of bear scouting to see what I could come up with. On top of all this, I have Juneau in my sights for a visit during the early part of August when the bears should be abundant. So I really needed not only a break from the monotony of moving into this house, but a bit of practice with the camera. We departed in the general direction of the Olympic National Park settling for the Dungeness Spit area where I was fairly certain I could find a bear or two. We were very lucky in that we saw several bears and I was fortunate to be able to get a few good shots shooting across the vehicle in front of Jan - we didn't get out of the SUV - of which I'm sharing one for today. This image was taken near the end of our shoot and is of one nice specimen who would appear to be thinking about perhaps calling it quits for the day. ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 7.1
29 Jun 12. As I believe I've mentioned before, during our first PCS move in the military we visited a bear sanctuary/park/rescue operation called Bear Country U.S.A. in So. Dakota. There was a lot to see there including a pen containing perhaps 20 baby bears. This was about as cute a group of critters I'd ever encountered, and as I was bending over to get a good angle on the group for a wide angle portrait, an exposed roll of film fell from my shirt pocket and was immediately grabbed by one of the cubs. We had a bit of a tussle getting that little can of film back but I got it and never forgot the experience. I think that short encounter with a bear cub began my love of the big bears. Ever since they have been a favorite animal to photograph whenever the opportunity presented itself. On occasion I find my self thinking about the '57 Elvis love song . . put a chain around my neck, and lead me anywhere . . . . or comparing the adults to long snouted large dogs. About now you are likely thinking bears and dogs look similar; he's nuts. Well, just down the road some, about a hour away, resides the Olympic Game Farm. The link will take you to some interesting reading about it and I encourage you to read it. They have a number of bears there, some of which you may have seen in the movies. A few of them will do tricks for you without much encouragement. If you are in this part of the woods, a visit there will, I'm sure, help you make the connection between the facial appearance of bears and dogs. ISO 200; 1/400 sec @ f / 7.1.
