Signature Story
The Run
Coastal Alaska · 8 min read
A single week each autumn draws bears and salmon into a rhythm older than memory.
Martography
Photograph Coming Soon
The Run — Coastal Alaska
The salmon arrive first, in a pulse so sudden the river seems to change colour overnight.
The bears follow within hours. Some come alone. Some come with cubs. All of them come with an intensity that is almost embarrassing to witness — like walking in on someone praying.
For a single week each year, everything else in their lives stops. They eat, they sleep on the bank, they eat again. By the end of the week, some of them will have gained sixty pounds.
The image is of a young male who caught nine fish in ten minutes. He ate three of them. The rest, he left on the bank for the gulls, who circled him like tiny, screaming acolytes.
— Paul Marto
