Big Brown Bear Standing On Brooks Falls, Katmai - Slow Shutter Speed - In Memory Of Tupper Blake - In Explore

This is a shot from one of my many trips to Katmai.
I was standing on the viewing platform next to Tupper Blake when I took it.
I had met him on that trip and we became pretty good friends.
Earlier that day we were walking along the river bank near the Ox Bow and Tupper said, we should cross to the other side and head down to the falls. I was all for that, except I was wearing hip waders and the river was about waist deep.
I told Tupper, that I would have to go back and hike around. He said, "Naw, I can carry you across”.
He had on chest high waders. I had my Canon 400mm F2.8 lens on my camera and it was mounted on my big Gitzo TeleStudex Tripod. The lens and camera weren't insured and I wasn’t to sure about how strong the current would be and didn’t want to drop them in the river.
But, he finally convinced me that he could do it.
So, I climbed on his back and with him holding my tripod, camera and lens, we crossed with no problems.
He was a big guy and strong.
Anyway, we hiked on down to the falls. While we were standing there talking and waiting for a bear to show up,
I mentioned we should try something different, like maybe some slow shutter speeds to make the water going over the falls sort of silky. So, when this bear showed up that was what we did. The posted shot is one of those.
A few months later I was looking at a photography magazine and saw his shot of this bear.
I told Jan, "hey look, I was there when Tupper took that shot and I have a shot just like that".
So, she says, "where is your shot"! I told her, "in that little yellow box of slides over on the table”.
To which she replied, why???, why don’t you submit some of your shots to different magazines. To that I had no answer.
I ran across this shot a few days ago and it brought back some wonderful memories.
So, I Googled Tupper’s name and was saddened to find out that he passed away on January 25, 2024.
I feel bad that I had lost contact with him over the years.
He was a great guy and I throughly enjoyed knowing him.
Please view very large.
A link to Tupper’s Obit.
www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/heraldandnews/name/tupper-bl...

Taken on: February 27, 2024

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Brooks Falls

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