AS THE glow of Pasadena, California, lights up the valley beneath the San Gabriel mountains, this handsome black bear has been captured by the flash of a trail camera.
Wildlife photographer Johanna Turner connected her camera to a motion sensor to take the shot, which is currently going viral after she posted it on . 鈥淭his shot is a long exposure, so each time an animal comes, I only get one chance at a photo 鈥� so everything needs to work perfectly. Which is rare,鈥� she says.
Turner鈥檚 goal is to show wildlife in its natural habitat. 鈥淚 also want people to know that even around a megacity, we have beautiful wildlife that need their habitat protected,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t is quickly disappearing.鈥� The San Gabriel mountains were , with President Joe Biden recently extending the protected area to include the portion where this bear lives.
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Turner says she has many 鈥渇un聽photos鈥� of bears, which often聽accidentally end up in these sorts of 鈥渟elfies鈥�, but聽she is most interested in mountain lions, or聽cougars (see below). 鈥淸They] are聽very difficult to capture on camera, mostly because there simply are more bears than lions鈥β爃ere,鈥� she says.
