Behind the Photo: A Brown Bear Sees Red

How Kate and Adam Rice of KAR Photography snagged their prizewinning photo of a brown bear fishing—but not catching—sockeye salmon

By Jennifer Wehunt // Photo by Kate and Adam Rice, KAR Photography
Wildlife Photos
Jun 27, 2024

SO MANY FISH, SO LITTLE SUCCESS. After two weeks scouting Alaska’s Katmai National Park & Preserve in 2021, the married photography duo Kate and Adam Rice found the perfect spot, angle and light to capture this brown bear fishing for sockeye salmon.

The bear, however, wasn’t having the perfect day. “Bears typically fish in shallower water, where they can trap fish against rocks,” Adam says. “But this bear just couldn’t help himself. He’d run down the bank and belly flop in. He’s surrounded by thousands of fish, but he can’t catch them. It’s like there’s a force field around him.”

“We’re laughing out loud, watching this bear,” Kate recalls. “The bears have given us a lot,” she says, including inspiring the couple to move near Yellowstone National Park and then to Anchorage, Alaska. “We wanted to do more than take photos of them.”

In 2020, the Rices co-founded the nationwide nonprofit For the Love of Bears, featuring a self-certification program for concerned residents looking to bear-proof their trash and help prevent human-wildlife conflicts. “We wanted to come up with a more positive way for people to take pride in their property, to talk to their community and to uplift each other, rather than pointing fingers and saying, ‘You’re the problem,’” Kate explains. See more from KAR Photography.