The Traveling Widower

Tag: alaska

  • Bears and the Terminator – Photographing Brown Bears in Alaska

    A fierce grizzly bear stands on the riverbank, mouth open in a roar, while a man in a black leather jacket holds a large fish in front of it, set in a mountainous forest area.
    Hasta la vista, baby!

    21st Sept, 2026

    How do you know when you need to make some significant life changes? When you find yourself having a conversation about photography with an AI Chat-bot at 11PM on a Saturday night. Very sad.

    But it was an interesting conversation. Really. I’m just about done curating my treasure trove of bear photos, and was pondering which one to submit for a photo club nature competition. I had used Google Gemini to provide editing suggestions in the past so figured … let’s see how it critiques and ranks what I consider to be the best of the bunch. So, I started out by feeding one image, a female bear (sow) with a single cub – one of my favorites. Gemini processed for about 30 seconds, and came back with a thorough evaluation, recommending tighter cropping, and pointing out the strengths of the image. Gemini considered it to be a strong composition, with a subject matter that judges tend to favor with grizzly bear photos – a mother with cubs. Cool

    I then asked if I could just feed it a series of photos, and have each evaluated and ranked. Gemini said to bring it on. Seriously. So…I fed another 15 photos, one at a time, and in some cases making changes and resubmitting. It was kind of fun. (I know, that’s really a concern. At least I refrained from naming the Chat-bot). I had a mix of solo adult bear shots, cubs only, and mother-cub(s) images. Gemini ranked anything with cubs over solo shots – not unexpected. Judges typically look for some type of animal behavior or interaction between adults in most wildlife photo competitions. Fur shots (close-ups of a single adult), may look great, but will usually rate somewhat lower than a less perfect photo of two bears fighting, or a sow interacting with her cubs.

    Here are most of the sixteen photos I submitted to my AI photo reviewer.

    A mother bear with two cubs, one sitting close and the other partially behind, in a natural grassy environment.
    #1
    A mother bear and her two cubs sitting on the ground in a natural setting with green foliage in the background.
    #2
    A mother bear resting on the ground with her cub nearby, surrounded by green foliage and a small body of water.
    #3
    A mother bear resting on a sandy riverbank with two playful cubs nearby.
    #4
    A group of three brown bears on a shoreline, with two cubs sitting on the ground and one adult bear walking in front. Seagulls are scattered in the background amid green vegetation.
    #5
    A grizzly bear and its cub are standing by the water's edge, surrounded by rocky terrain and sparse vegetation.
    A young bear sitting among tall, green grass in a natural setting.
    #7
    A large brown bear sitting on the shore near a body of water, surrounded by vegetation and a few birds in the background.
    A brown bear sitting in shallow water, partially submerged, with a piece of meat in its paw.
    A grizzly bear standing in shallow water, holding a piece of fish in its mouth, with a natural landscape in the background.
    #11
    A brown bear standing in shallow water, holding a piece of fish, with two seagulls nearby on the shore.
    A brown bear wading through a river with another bear in the background.
    A brown bear standing in a grassy area with dense greenery in the background.
    A group of three brown bears resting on a sandy riverbank, with lush greenery and water in the background.
    #16

    The third one (DSC06547_1) was ranked #1 immediately, and stayed there until the very end, until I found a similar shot, with the cub staring back at the camera. That was considered an improvement, and made it to the top of the list (marked #1).

    Here is Gemini’s final ranking of the 16 photos.

    1. Benchmark Comparison: DSC06295_3.jpg (#1) vs. DSC06296_1.jpg (New Entry)

    • Winner: DSC06296_1.jpg takes the #1 spot!
    • Why it wins:
      • Stronger Head Angle: The sow’s head is tilted more toward the camera rather than pointing straight left, showing off more of her face while keeping the dramatic yawn fully visible.
      • Sharper Eye Contact: The standing cub’s gaze is even clearer and more alert, locking directly onto the viewer.
      • Improved Seated Cub Posture: The smaller nestled cub is turned slightly more toward the foreground, making its profile cleaner and more distinct against the mother’s chest.

    2. New Entry Evaluation: DSC06296_1.jpg

    • Current Rank: #1
    • Strengths: Perfect crop framing, phenomenal emotional connection, and high behavioral impact. It refines the composition of your previous leader into an absolute knockout frame.

    Updated Leaderboard

    1. DSC06296_1.jpg (Trio / Yawning Sow Tilted Forward & Alert Cub)
    2. DSC06295_3.jpg (Trio / Yawning Sow Profile & Alert Cub)
    3. DSC06547_1.jpg (Trio / Resting Sow & Expressive Cub with Tongue Out)
    4. DSC06591_1.jpg (Trio / Resting Sow & Expressive Cub)
    5. DSC06690_1.jpg (Trio / Walking Yawning Sow & Seated Cubs)
    6. DSC06386_1.jpg (Mother & Single Cub)
    7. DSC06895_1.jpg (Single Cub in Green Grass – Direct Eye Contact)
    8. DSC7116_1.jpg (Two Cubs in Tall Grass)
    9. DSC06756_2.jpg (Solo Bear Sitting Upright)
    10. DSC7466_3.jpg (Solo Bear Cropped in Water)
    11. DSC7125_1.jpg (Solo Bear Feeding on Salmon – Profile)
    12. DSC7132_1.jpg (Solo Bear Feeding – Head Down)
    13. DSC06502_1.jpg (Solo Bear in Water – Wide)
    14. DSC06756_1.jpg (Solo Bear Full-Body Profile)
    15. DSC06622_1.jpg (Solo Bear Emerging from Grass)
    16. DSC06601_1.jpg (Sow Lying Back with Snuggling Cubs)

    This micro-adjustment made a huge difference—DSC06296_1.jpg is your new top competition candidate! Got any more frames to compare?

    The biggest surprise for me was that the photo of the mother nursing her cubs did not rank higher and wound up in last place, but Gemini’s evaluation made sense. Neither the mother or the cubs were looking at the camera – eye contact with the viewer is important. It was interesting to see the mother feeding the cubs, but the overall composition did not have much life to it. I did have two other ones though with the cubs and mother in different positions….maybe next time. That’s the problem with having that many reasonably good shots – it’s easy to overlook some really good ones.

    I probably would have submitted #3 if I had not decided to go through this ranking process. This does not necessarily mean I’ll do well in the competition – last time I tried this, the judge thought that I had over-cropped the image. Bummer. AI cannot outguess how a human will evaluate and rank photo’s. That’s a good thing. I think it’s useful to use the tool for recommendations, but I will ever expect that those recommendations guarantee anything.

    As for the latest controversy over AI, and how uncontrolled development might lead to the robots taking over, like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Skynet in the Terminator.

    I’m not overly concerned about that. After all, I’ve got my own AI protectors, Max and Aperture. Although I’m not too sure about that dog, especially after seeing the viral video of a golden retriever welcoming an intruder who broke into the home. He greeted the guy with one of his toys, wagging his tail. Not quite the best guard dog.             

    A golden retriever holding a colorful toy in its mouth stands at a doorstep, while a humanoid robot with a metallic finish approaches it. A surprised man in a green shirt is visible in the background.

    Hopefully this is not my last post…I’ve got nothing to do until I leave for Patagonia in early November, which means I’ll have to find ways to entertain myself other than sitting at home and writing weird posts for the blog. I do have my cardiac maintenance at UC Davis later this morning. That’s not exactly what I had in mind in terms of exciting things to do. It’s a routine procedure, so as Arnold said in a few of the Terminator flicks, I’m sure that “I’ll Be Back!”.

    Peace

  • Grizzly/Brown Bear Trip – Random Thoughts On My Alaska Trip

    A large black and white fishing vessel named 'Ursus' anchored in calm waters, surrounded by lush green hills and mountains under a clear blue sky.

    Sept 6th, 2026

    I usually remember things I wanted to include in my trip posts after a day or two home. I also come up with a bunch of random thoughts about the trip like issues I thought I’d have but did not or issues I did not think I’d have but did. I’ll stop there before I dive too deep into Dick Cheney type logic. 

    Brown vs. Grizzly Bear – our guide lectured about this somewhere along the way. The trip was billed by NatHab as a Grizzly Bear tour but in reality, we were dealing with Coastal Brown Bears. Both are the same species (Ursus Arctos), and are classified as Brown Bears. Grizzly bears do have a sub-species classification, horribilis. Sounds terrible. The difference is basically location and to some degree, diet and behavior. Grizzly bears live inland – Denali, the Pacific Northwest states and Canada, while Katmai and Kodiak are Coastal Brown Bears. The inland bears subsist on berries, grasses and preying on other animals, while coastal subsist on fish rather than animals. I’d be snacking on those annoying and loud sea gulls though if I were a coastal bear.

    Traveling solo – even after all the trips I’ve been on, I still worry about having to interact with a group of complete strangers, especially when it’s a small group like this trip. But unlike the larger cruise ships, where I have to deal with the dreaded “May I join you” moment the first night, there was no choice on who to sit with. There was just the eight of us plus the guide, and one table. It was like a big family gathering, passing plates of food around, sharing stories, bad jokes, fun jabs at each other. This was one of the best trips I’ve had so far in terms of interactions, maybe the best. 

    I’m old, just deal with it – this is probably the first time I have accepted help from others, when I needed a hand getting up a big step or steep slope while hiking, or just needed a steady arm to hold on to while crossing a stream, or walking across a rocky surface. I really did appreciate that helping hand on this trip from our guide, and also from the younger members of our group. I have to accept the fact that I’m the same age as some of their grand parents, and just say thank you. 

    Nat Hab vs. Nat Geo – this was my first Natural Habitat Adventures trip, after having six straight trips with National Geographic. Obviously the ship and accommodations would not compare with what I’ve experienced with NatGeo – different trips, but the lead/guides and crew from NatHab were top notch, and overall trip organization were just as good. This was really two trips – Kodiak and Katmai. Both leads were excellent, very focused on our safety and comfort. I was surprised to be picked up at the Kodiak airport since I came in a day early. They get points for that. The guide/leader on the Ursus was awesome. Given my experience with my land-only Iceland trip, I currently think NatHab did a much better job with travel arrangements than National Geographic – Lindblad handles all the cruises and they have fantastic travel support. National Geographic land expeditions have almost no support, not even a portal for managing trip arrangements. I have two more Nat Geo/Lindblad this year, and four more NatHab trips next year. I’m sure they will all be fantastic. 

    The Ursus Chef – I never really mentioned the food on this trip. This was different than the National Geo/Lindblad trips, where you have a large dining room with a significant staff, which serves a variety of main courses with each meal. On the Ursus, we had a fantastic chef who lives part time in Hawaii when not in Alaska, amd who had to feed a small group (13 including herself and the crew) nutritious and filling meals, in a small galley with limited storage space for ingredients. She did an amazing job. And she is publishing a recipe book for what she serves on the Ursus, and one of my photos may be in the book. I’ll be ordering a copy for sure.

    A major oops – I was in a rush when the hotel van showed up way early at the hotel to take us to the airport. After checking my luggage at the airport I discovered that I had left my iPad at the hotel. I immediately panicked of course. But, one of the attendants at the Alaska Air counter called a cab for me, and 10 minutes later, a Ford pickup showed up with a really pleasant, local driver, who got me to the hotel and back in about 20 minutes. She would have just picked up the iPad for me if I had asked. Either way, I made it back with plenty of time.

    Disappointments – Just a few. First would be not getting the fly around of Denali, but that still worked out with the flight that I did go on. Second would be not seeing a moose, other than at the wildlife conservancy thing. I hiked in two parks around Anchorage, but came up empty although I did see this one at the airport. It seemed pretty tame.

    Taxidermy moose displayed indoors with a colorful ceiling mural and decorative plants in the background.

    Another disappointment was how sloppy and careless I was with my photography. Once again, I shot without checking my settings, and lost probably half of the action shots (too soft) because I did not reset my shutter speed. Dumb – that’s why I consider myself to be an amateur photographer. I still do really stupid things. My last disappointment of course were the puffins, especially after seeing the photograph my cabin mate got of the classic shot of a flying puffin with a beak full of fish. He was just so annoying with all those great bird pictures. Just kidding Dave. I had the wrong lens. And probably the lack of experience as well.  But I get another chance next summer in Iceland. I’ll be better prepared for sure.

    What worried me….needlessly – if you follow my blog regularly, you can probably guess that I tend to be high strung, a worrier about small details. Yeah, in first grade, I had a panic attack about not having straws for our milk break and they had to call my mother in to calm me down. So what were my worries on this trip:

    • A stranger for a roommate – Other than a tennis trip I made with a bunch of guys from my club a few years ago, I have not shared a bedroom with someone other than Jan for about 49 years. So I was a bit concerned about sharing a tiny room with bunk beds, with a complete stranger. What if they snored or talked in their sleep. Well, that could be interesting depending on what they said. At any rate, it all worked out great. My roommate was pretty much as strange as I am with a similar warped sense of humor. A perfect match. I also convinced him to take the upper bunk which seemed like a good idea at first, until I realized he had to boost himself up by stepping on my bed. That could be dangerous in the dark. He is a much better photographer, especially for eagles and puffins, and he shared a lot of good photograph tips throughout the trip.
    • Sharing a bathroom with 3 people – that also worked out well. We never had one of those “Hi there” moments with our neighbors in the adjoining tiny cabin, where you both open your doors at the same time. We did manage to lock them out once, but we both had keys to free the locks.
    • Balance Issues – probably my biggest fear. My neuropathy has progressed to the point where my balance can be a problem, especially on uneven surfaces. Which I expected to have a lot of. I’ve become extra careful now, using a hiking stick (or my multi-purpose monopod). I did OK most of the time, including the long stretches of walking on matted grass (bear trails), and most of the stream crossings. I did bail out of the short walk to a waterfall on a very unstable, rocky beach. One of our group did fall, and I decided to just find a comfortable boulder to sit on, and enjoy the scenery instead. And I accepted help from others when needed. 
    • Nature calls in the wild – not a major worry, but I was a bit concerned about finding an appopriate (and safe place) when we were mingling with bears. There was always a good place to duck into..usually in ankle deep water. 
    • The bears – I viewed enough videos from Nat/Hab and other companies, to pretty much calm my fears of being so close to these very large and scary looking beasts. The first time one approaches, my heart did skip a beat or two, but then you realize that what our guide told us was true – the bears pretty much ignore people, unless you do something really stupid. Like approaching a cub, or trying to grab a salmon from them. 
    • Small airplanes – I kind of got over my fear of flying on small, single engine planes on my Baja trip, but this was something new – small planes that land and take off from water. But other than our aborted first flight to Katmai, I really enjoyed the flights, especially sitting up front. 

    Speechless in Alaska – I had more than a few moments on this trip that what I was seeing through the camera lens was so absolutely stunning, that I stopped shooting, put the camera down, and just watched. And not just the bears on Katmai – seeing the glaciers around Denali from above was incredible. Sometimes I’d rather just have a memory rather than a photograph. 

    Worst Hotel Breakfast Ever – I set the bar low for hotels in Kodiak after doing a search on what was available. No Hiltons or Marriotts – that’s a bad sign. NatHab put us up in the best one available, the Compass Suites Inn, which was actually pretty nice. The rooms were huge, with a comfortable bed and a reasonable good shower. Like most hotels at this level, they offered a buffet breakfast in the morning. It was absolutely the worst excuse for a hotel breakfast I’ve ever experienced. Awful, dried out bagels, luke-warm coffee, cheap packaged pastries, warm packages of yogurt – what’s not to like about that menu? Fortunately, NatHab an account at a great coffee house across the road. It was worth the morning walk to have a selection of great coffee drinks and breakfast food. 

    And just for the fun of it….

    Peace