The good news....my favorite model came over to my house last week for some practice shots. It was a beautiful evening, the light was gorgeous and I couldn't be happier with how the pictures turned out. I had spray painted a cruddy old bike earlier this summer and finally found the perfect opportunity to sneak it into a photo shoot.
The bad news....Kayla and I aren't the only ones who have been enjoying this pretty spot lately.
It would seem we have a bear on the farm. I won't go into details, but I found the evidence, and The Farmer in all his outdoorsy wisdom confirmed, that a bear is indeed hanging out under the apple tree in the background of these pictures.
Now yes, we do live in the country, but not that far out in the country. It's not like we back up to a national wilderness or Jellystone Park. We have deer by the bushel, coyotes, foxes, and on one occasion, a moose. But never a bear....that I know of anyway.
Normally, my gut reaction to this type of situation would involve villagers, torches and pitchforks, but I'm trying not to over react. My hubby claims Yogi will run away if he hears me coming.
Um, hello? Meadowbrook Farmer? Have we met? That's not going to be good enough to get me out in the woods again.
Actually, there's a small, very small, part of me that wouldn't mind a glimpse of him...from a distance of course.
But for now, I'll just hope my hubby is available to chaperone any future photo shoots, and I'll also be keeping my doors locked.
Because everyone knows...bears can open doors.
And Kayla? I don't know about you, but I think these pictures were worth the risk.
You're gorgeous, girl!
Sounds like you have a whole new kind of model to work with. Challenging too I would imagine. BTW - I thought Jellystone Park was in Wyoming ;-)
ReplyDeleteMaybe that bear will be hibernating soon instead of out looking for picnic baskets and opening doors.
ReplyDeleteYou can only hope. :-)
DI
Yea, I'm with you! I don't think I'd want to catch him in my camera "up close"! Wonderful shots as always!
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should invite Yogi in for a nice warm bowl of porridge, with brown sugar and blueberries on top. He might be a prince with a magic spell cast on him, like in all the fairly tales.
ReplyDeleteOK, seriously, I like bears. But I don't think I'd want one in my yard. What kind of bear are we talking about?
Your furry friend apparently likes the taste of apples. Bears trying to put that layer of winter fat on will eat just about anything, including the seeds in your bird-feeders. So do what you can to to eliminate the food sources and maybe he will move on.
The pics turned out great! Hopefully your 'neighbor' will be moving on soon.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos. Love that bike. Yeah, we've had a bear too. A mother and her cub have been enjoying the apple trees I've nurtured all year.
ReplyDeleteWell, *maybe* with a really really long telephoto lens... love the bike and the photos - well done!
ReplyDeleteOh man, do I ever want you to see that bear from a distance. What a story!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Kayla is gorgeous and so is the bike and gosh darnit, so is the photographer.
Yikes, but those pics were definitely worth the risk! Maybe the bear is simply trying to get a few pointers for taking better pics by eavesdropping?! ;-)
ReplyDeleteKat :)
I think that bear just wants her picture taken too! She'll be jealous about the cute bike pics wishin' she was the one riding it. She must be practicing her poses by the apple tree. Word is apparently out in the wilderness about your skills!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, my husband would be soooo excited if we had a bear in our yard. One time I thought I did, I ran for the camera, it turned out to be a chow. oops. Great pictures, love the model and the bike!
ReplyDeletegreat job with the pics, love the old bike and geraniums! now... go get a picture of that bear~
ReplyDeleteWhat a doll!! & I just LOVE the bike...great paint job!!!!
ReplyDeleteSo so pretty. I'm with you though. Not a fan of being eaten by a bear!
ReplyDeleteLions, tigers . and bears OH MY Have you seen the Great Outdoors? Funny in a movie -in life, not so much! You need to carry some of that pepper spray!
ReplyDeleteShe is a beautiful girl and the pictures are awesome. The bear would scare me to death but I think I would be curious and have to spy on him and get a picture :)
ReplyDeleteAmy
She is gorgeous and you captured her well!! As for the bear, if it wants its picture taken, just use a telephoto lens. :>)
ReplyDeleteAnnette
Bears are the whole reason we built the cabin! My in-laws saw bears where we used to have our tent. That year instead of a tent I made Mr. Cabin rent us an RV. Once he said he we were not doing that all the time- the cabin building plot began. Now that I have a whole lotta logs to hide inside, I actually wouldn't mind seeing one from a distance!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous shots. Don't worry about the bear he or she will hear you and run off like all good bears do. I would bet you would be hard pressed to find it and take photos if you tried.
ReplyDeleteShe IS beautiful! And so is that bike!
ReplyDeleteJim has kindly offered to come hunt that bear for you.
I'm with you on all accounts - sort of cool but mostly scary~
ReplyDeleteThat being said, don't you dare leave home without your camera! Just in case, of course... :)
xx
What beautiful photo's! I'm afraid that old bear will hang around as long as there is fruit to eat or anything else that smells good for that matter. I used to live in the mountains of British Columbia and every fall a male black bear would come and check our plum and apple trees for ripeness. As the fruit got closer to being ripe the more the bear would come around until the fruit was ripe enough to eat. That old bear would be around every evening after dark and sometimes would show up in the daytime. I had 4 children still at home and two under 6 so it was a constant worry but we made out just fine. We learned very quickly to keep our garbage cans in the garage and to clean the BBQ and to not to leave dog food outside and to pick all the fruit off the trees and off the ground. If this visitor finds food on your property...he will be back. Good luck! Be safe.
ReplyDeleteMaura :)
My thoughts. Tame the bear. I bet honey cookies would do the trick, and then it could be a photo prop. I for one totally want my picture taken with a live bear. Seoond thought - I think if you had a daughter, she would look just like Kayla. Third thought - when I come to visit - can you please take dreamy photos of me and photoshop out things like wrinkles, fat, gray hair and age spot? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteLions and tigers and bears, oh my!
ReplyDeleteThis bear has likely been there the whole time, this is just the first time you've seen it. This happened in my yard too, again heading to my niebor's apple tree. The one reasuring thing I learned from seeing this bear is that it was NOISY! I could hear it come thrashing thew the woods, breaking branches walking threw bushes. Not very sneaky or stealth. I was scared to death when I saw it, but later decided it was really cool to see....from a distance. ;)
ReplyDeleteSo meet a bear and take him out to lunch with you, And even though your friends may stop and stare,Just remember that's a bear there in the bunch with you,And they just don't come no better than a bear.
ReplyDelete(sorry.....one of my fav Lyle Lovett songs....)
We met up w/ a small bear on our recent trip to Grand Tetons...I THOUGHT they said if you talk loudly as you hike, they will run the other way. NOT SO. We had stopped to admire the view w/ about 6 other hikers and been laughing and talking pretty loudly. As soon as they left and it was just the 2 of us, I looked over my husband's shoulder and, voila, there he was. This bear walked right toward us, then around us down towards the lake. He was not aggressive, but I must say I'm glad I had not been munching on my clif bar or a pb and J. :) We've hiked about 30 years now and I 've never been that close to a bear (about 6 feet). I, for one, WILL carry bear spray on my future hikes. I certainly won't stop hiking or walking in the woods, but I will carry the right 'tools'! :)
ReplyDeleteooo thats a bit scary, here I am squinting to see if I can spot him in the background. Very cute model and bike!
ReplyDeleteGeesh...your photos are gorgeous!!!
ReplyDeleteHopefully you won't have any up close and personal bear encounters:)
You are so talented. The photo's are gorgeous and I love the bike! Good luck with Yogi!
ReplyDelete