Alaska-based photographer Mark Meyer took only the bear necessities with him when he traveled to Brooks Camp for his New York Time’s shoot. The New York Times had asked Mark to take the photos to accompany a travel article on Katmai National Park’s Brooks Camp, Alaska’s prime destination for bear viewing and bear photography.
Brooks Camp can’t be accessed by road, so Mark had to first take a commercial plane to King Salmon, and then take a float plane to the actual grounds. Brooks Camp is unlike other bear viewing opportunities (such as zoos) because the campers are just essentially dropped into bear territory, told how to behave around bears for safety, and left to explore the bear culture without barriers. The photo editor for NYT wanted Mark to get photos that included the bears and the people at once in order to show how close the two can come in this park. Mark says he spent a lot of time walking the trails, staying patient and vigilant for people-bear interactions. When Mark was taking photos, there was nothing dividing him from the bears he was photographing.
Mark has a background shooting photos with an environmental component as well as shooting travel photos, so he felt this assignment was a good mix for him. It proved especially fitting when the team found out that trips to Brooks Camp were typically booked years in advance, and the lodgings at the time of Mark’s visit were completely booked up. Because Mark had experience in the Alaska outdoors himself, he was able to brave the elements and camp for the days of the shoot. That meant he had to be really conscious of what he packed for the trip, and how he packed it.
I was already geared up and prepared for the challenges of camping in Alaska, such as float plane limitations and working safely around bears.
Marks’s pictures were published in the New York Times along with the article by Jenna Schnuer, both in-article and in a slide show.
Big, wild animals are a popular draw for travelers here, so it was great to be able to show off one of Alaska’s pinnacle travel destinations to a national audience.
To view more of Mark’s work, visit photo-mark.com.