48.5

A cool morning in Banff National Park and I leave the cabin just after dawn to drive up to Moraine Lake before the crowds descend. As I round the corner on the nine mile trip, I see this grizzly alongside the road gorging on hawthorne berries.

My heart starts racing and I slowly drive up alongside. He looks up at me for a second and then resumes his eating. I roll down the window and I pick up my camera and lens and I find that my hands are shaking.

I calm down a bit and point the lens with one foot on the accelerator and one on the brake.....and I begin to photograph this magnificent creature that is less than ten feet away. He pays me no more notice and then another car rounds the corner behind me and he looks up at it for a split second and I get this shot.

I was with him alone for about five minutes - and I realized then that it was probably a once in a lifetime moment. And every time I look at this shot, I remember the soft rain and the sounds he made as he methodically cleaned the bushes of berries...and the feeling of pure, raw adrenaline running through my veins.