07/02/2025
Here is a spectacular moment I photographed a few days ago here in New Hampshire. As the rain falls and the landscape freshens, black bears are venturing out of the deep woods to eat the green grass shooting up in fields and meadows across New England. But this photograph isn’t really about the breakfast hanging from the big bear’s mouth, or the orange sun creeping over the hilltop. The shared moment between the cub and its mother is of trust, tenderness and protection. This bond is fierce. The bear would smash me to the ground, seize my neck and kill me if I crept closer. I was hidden behind a slight hummock in the field, but the bears stood up every now and then to look around for danger. I’ve witnessed a mother’s protectiveness firsthand in moose, bears, loons, owls, foxes and many other wild animals, but I’ve never managed to capture the power of a moment like that in a photograph before - until perhaps now. There’s peace in the quiet meadow, warmth in the rising sun, and a tender, inquisitive twinkling of mischief and trust in the little bear’s upward gaze. As a wildlife photographer, I could never hope or dream of capturing more than what was given to me in that scene, in that brief, special moment.