UWOL#4 "The Pond of Bears" by Per Johan Naesje
 

This short film show bears in the wild, deep into the forest of Finland. In fact this specific footage is shoot in "no man's land" at the Russian border. The scenery is just amazing, so is the sound of the wild. Hopefully I managed to get this sound, a combination of screams from the ravens, bears and the forest, into my film.
I'm sitting in a hide, a small construction made of wood and plywood. Although the bears could easily knock down the constructions I'm sitting in I feel safe!
It's in the middle of the night, 00:30 am, when the first bear appear in the scenery. Luckily I'm high up in Finland where the light during the night is spare but just enough when I put on some gain and reduce shutter speed to 1/25. You may notice the noise from the gain in the film, but this scene is very rare filmed by anyone; the swimming bear, the fight etc....
The small pond of water creates a theather stage where the bears is passing to and from. The sparse light creates a very nice reflection in the water and creates a nice warm color in the bears fur. The surrounding of the pond consist of moor and you can hear the gurgling when the bears go through it, sometimes they even have to swim cause of the softness in the moor. Even with their big feet, the weight which is almost 600-700 lbs for an adult bear force it to sink deep into the moore.
The reason they are taking a swim is to get rid of insects, mosquito etc. but also to cool down as they get rather warm struggleing in the moor.
During this night I counted 12 bears in the area! All bears was male, the female bears and the youngster (cubs) are staying in Russia this time of year. The largest (and oldest) bear was constantly guarding the carcass forcing the other one to starve or challenge him! He was standing on his rear feet several times roaring when the younger bears came to close to him.
In the end of the film one younger bear decide to challenge him. This scene will forever stay in my mind as some of the most exciting moment in my life!!! The deep intense roaring was so load and the demonstration of power from the bears throw me into a mood I haven't been in before! I was sitting only 100 feet from this scene alone in a hide deep into the forest of Finland, wow this is how it is to be a wildlifephotographer :-)

Link to the film: <to be updated>

Picture from the film:
Left: One of my favorite bear, very colorful with a light collar on his neck
Right: The fighting scene, the oldest and largest bear is showing his strength!

Sounds awesome Per.....can't wait to see it !

The link to the film
 

Ok, here is the link to my film for uwol4 - The Pond of Bears:
http://www.uwolchallenge.com/challen...ondofbears.mov

Will provide a larger file for viewing/download a little later today.
EDIT: Here's the link to my website with a larger version of the film:
http://video-film.no/snutter/uwol4.html

Appriciate any feedback to this one!

Thanks

Yikes, man..... Of course I went to your film first. Everyone has to see, and "HEAR" this fantastic film.

Great subject, great filming. Can't wait to see it in a higher resolution format, though you did wonders with this one..

Per:

This is stunning and seems amazingly dangerous! Are these grizzly bears? They are vicious animals! How far did you have to hike in to get there? Is the shelter permanent or did you have to contrive something yourself? Did you ever feel cramped and stiff sitting in there so long? How long were you there? Were you by yourself? Per, you are quite amazing and we are so fortunate to have your contributions to the group.

That being said, even with the mastery of your camera work and editing I didn't think it spoke to the challenge topic "water". I also know that now that I have said this, Meryem will disagree for she holds very liberal interpretations of her topics. But to me, this was a sensational film on bears, not water.

Thanks for this entry anyway!

Wow!

Those have to be the wettest bears I have ever seen on film, at least the one "shaking" itself dry. It's bad enough to be next to a dog doing that, I can just imagine how drenched one would be next to a critter THAT size.

The audio was so clear, I have to know what mic setup you were using.

The filming and editing were, as usual, superb. National Geographic level definitely.

And I have to respectfully disagree with Catherine's feeling that this one does not speak to the theme of water. The bears affinity and relationship to the "pond" is on the theme as much as any entry that shows life in and around water.

Just my opinion

Bruce Foreman

Per Johan,

Some pretty amazing footage, as always!! But this is a little grander. Heck, just being that close to those big Bruins could be spooky just in itself!!!
Did you have any background music in this? I couldn't hear it if there was.

I like the way you edited the end of it!!

I truly appreciate you sharing this footage!!

Per, gotta agree with Dale, I loved the way you ended it. The relationship of the bears to the pond definitely fits with the theme. I can only imagine what it was like to actually be there. Nice job.

New link to the film
 

Here is a link to my website where you can view a larger version of this film:
http://video-film.no/snutter/uwol4.html

Enjoy!

Per,

Your film was the 2nd I watched after seeing what our young Gabriel came up with.

I really can't say here what I thought of your film cause it would look something like this...

Holy CENSORED CENSORED man that was the most CENSORED CENSORED CENSORED film I've seen. The light was CENSORED amazing and the audio was CENSORED CENSORED clear.

So, let me just say that that was an incredible piece.

Top notch all the way Per!!

Per… this film is in another division… Top spot!
It’s only one shot I didn’t like, the one when you are following one and then decide to change to the one who is itching its back… Is it possible to reedit that without the camera movement? Did you move to different covers? It looks like you were filming from two different angels?


Markus Nord

man
 

Can you send me a list of lottery numbers Per? No, seriously, that is a wonderful piece and you are very fortunate to get such great footage!

First musk oxen, now bears (12 at a time!), and you say you weren't scared!!
You're a better man than I, Per Johan. The next film better be of dragons, or we will all be disappointed.

Wonderful work.

Stunning...absolutely stunning,

So how big are the bears? They seem the size of the Grizzlies here in the states. I noticed that you were able to capture multiple angles; did you have more than one camera set up? And, what was it they were fighting over...something huge I imagine.

If you are not already you need to be working for the likes of National Geographic...get an agent and get your footage out there, if you have not already.

You have amazing patience and knowledge in order to capture such incredible beauty.

Jeff

Lovely video Per, did go out from the Wilderness Centre.

King of the Finnish forest ‘honey paw’
The Finns traditionally show the tax-man as a bear, with a peaked cap and huge money-bag... :-)

ok, i have to ask...what was that carcass that they were fighting over?? could you tell?

You know, I was actually wondering the same thing.

I loved this film, it was amazing - I was worried for you being that close. After reading your info though, you were closer then I thought you were!

Like some other, I don't think it fit into the theme as well as some of the other films did. I am definitely showing this film to anyone who asks me what kind of story could be told with a wildlife film. :)

Thanks all for your comments!

Catherine:
The bears are brown bears, view: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Bear They are common in the wild in Norway, Sweden and Finland.
This actually shoot was a long trip to me. I drive more than 1500km one way but heck it was worth every km.... ! This particulary place is run by a finnish guy named Lassie Rautiainen, he has several hides in the eastern part of Finland, in fact some of them are placed in no-man's land to the Russian border. To go to these hides you need a special permission in case you are stopped by the authorieties. You are driving to the hides by car on forest roads and there are only a short distance to walk to get to the hides (200-500 meter).
The hides are permanent for the season but can also be moved by a snow-mobile to another location. It's very light constructions of wood and plywood. They are small but still comfortable to sit in. You are sitting in this hides for 12 hours from the evening to the next morning. The activities of the bears are in the night only. In daytime the bears find a place with shadow and are sleeping. The light during the night are sparse but the location is at 64 degree north so there are suitable light in the summer if you tune your camcorder a bit. In this shoot I had to use 1/25 shutter speed and use some gain.
The hides are in different sizes, some are suitable for 1 (2) others for 3 or 4 persons. I prefer to sit in the smallest ones because I'm collecting the sound too. If you are sitting in the bigger ones toghether with other photographers you get very much noice in your footage (which I did and learned a lesson of!).
So to answer your question, I was not alone, we was a group of wildlifephotographers from Norway on this trip. But when you sit in these small and tiny hides, surrounded by bears you feel a bit alone, you feel you are in another time. Time stand still, I wasn't able to tell for how long that fighting scene last before I view the footage afterwards!

Bruce:
My mic-set up consist of a pair of Sennheiser ME-67 shotguns, connected through the XLR inputs on the Canon XLH1. Luckily I was able to sit alone in some of the hides being able to collect superb sound :-) I was just hanging the mics out from the small holes where you put your lenses in the hide. I monitored the sound by headset all the time.

Markus:
There are sure many ways to edit this kind of footage. This is my way of telling the story so I don't think I will reedit anything ;-)
This particilary film is edit with footage from 2 nights in 2 different hides at the same location. The light conditions was not the same so I had to do some color correction in post to get an overall view.

Jeff:
About the bear size, see my answer to Catherine. You are absolute right about the different angles in the fighting scene! This was indeed shoot from 2 different hides at the same time. I friend of mine was sitting there with another Canon XLH1. We do exchange footage from time to time when needed. I think this was a situation where we succeed to enhange that particular scene?
I'm not a professional yet Jeff! I have a full time paid job and my wildlife stuff is just a hobby by now. But of course it would have been nice to be able to work more as a professional in this topic. I think I have the talent, patience and knowledge to get stunning pictures of our beautiful world!
Any agents out there...just give me a call?
About the carcass see my answer to Meryem below.

Ron:
LOL, you should have been there seen those biggest and fattest bears ;-)

Meryem:
The carcass was a large pig. This place is run in cooperation with the authorities and they use different kind of meat to feed the bears. All kind of meat from traffic accidents like elk and deers are also used. This kind of feeding protect the farmers herd and reindeer from being attacked. This way you got a win-win situation. Farmers will allow wild animals to stay in the area, wildlifephotographers got their stunning pictures and the animals itself get a stabel source for food. Not shown in this short film, I was also able to get stunning footage of wolves and wolverines. These are threatened species but thanks to this kind of feeding, they are growing in numbers in this area!

Per this was truly stunning - i was spellbound by it.

Absolutley amazing quality ;-)

Hi Per Johan.
First I have to say I envy you your trip to Finland, “The land of thousand seas.” It’s a great film from a wilderness we don’t see much of, but I intend to compete with you, in a good manner of speaking, so watch out :)
I think it’s a water film all right, and the fighting scene is just great, the roaring of the bears. I just wonder, did you mirror the first and last scene, or is it two different ones? I’m glad you didn’t put music into it, as it would have destroyed the magic you captured so well.

Geir Inge

Hi Per

Well your sequence really does have the wow factor, I'm so jealous of this experience! I say sequence because because for me there is no real 'story' to bind it together. Its very much like my last piece UC3 on the seals. Nice behaviours, impressive subjects but lacking some narrative to pull things together....silly thing is all it needs is an initial premise as to why they use the pond or when they visit it and it places them in more of a story and gives it more of a reason....I hope you get what I mean.

I can see you struggling with the gain in a couple of your shots....but they are still of a great quality for sure. I agree with Marcus about the camera move to the bear tree scratch.

Your videography is always top notch fella and I always look forward to your offerings. You certainly served us up another feast for the eyes with this one !

Mat

per....what can i say other than you delivered again and again and again.

wonderful.....brian

Hi Per,
I truly love your work and really envy what you must experience/feel in a hide by yourself and an event like this unfolds - your heart must be in your mouth so many times.
Well, now I know what they mean when they say audio can make a movie. At the 2.00 mark, I nearly had an accident! The sound of those bears was just incredible.
I thought the colour and sharpness was very good - considering the conditions.
Another great experience you have shared with us all. Only wish I could pop out and buy the one hour documentary version. Maybe this could be your next project, along with the Musk Ox?

Per Johan,
It`s not so mutce to say,I realy feel the power at my neck.
How was you hart 200strok pr min when shoting this,I now the
feeling Per.This is Wildlife at climax.Fantastic!!!!!

Per Johan
This is an excellent piece of work. Bears are fascinating creatures. To have a chance to photograph bears under these conditions would be worth the trip.
But I have to agree with Mat about explaning the use of the pond for this theme. Still a great piece to watch!

Gordon Hoffman

Great stuff,I think your work is awsome.I think its just so incredible to be able to get out and film such great subject matter.

Per, I keep going back and waching your video over and over again. What an amazing experience that must have been. When that bear first roared it sent chills down my spine. I would have give anything to have been there. Your editing and sound was perfect. I think the small amount of grain actually gave it a mystic feeling. I'll bet the earth moved when those two went at each other. You are the gold standard that we all strive to be. And yes, I think it fits the theme. Thank you for showing us that side of life. Bob

If nothing else, when the bear shakes off the water like we have all seen dogs do, it fits the theme.

This kind of thing is why I don't try to enter the same kind of videos that Per Johan does. I try to find something completely different. How can anyone compete directly against bears in the wild around a pond?

Per Johan, this was simply STUNNING!!

Once more you delivered some impressive footage.
I think your film fits the theme without question.
The bears plays and fights in the water...

Must have been both amazing and at the same time scary to be that close to those bears.

One of my favorites!

Per,

This was fun and amazing to watch! The bears were amazing. And I loved the audio, both of the bears, and the background with birds. Really made you feel as if you were sitting there as a viewer. Very evocative! Great film!

Ruth