Hey guys,
Thanks for all your feedback. I've been crazy busy over the last few weeks. James - I wish I was climbing! It was mostly work work work. My busy climbing season starts in early April!

On a positive note, I just found out that National Geographic Adventure magazine will publish one of my images in the next few months. I'll post details here once they are finalized so you can get your copy!

Now to respond to everybody's feedback.

Roman - thanks for your frank opinion. I agree that the composition here is not anything special. This photo was an afterthought and not something I envisioned in advance (which is what I usually do when I photograph a particular scene). Now about the "bear"... It took me a few minutes to figure out but I finally did! It sure does look like a bear!! What a visual eye you have!

JeffDinPA -
>May I ask how you obtained such a good color balance?
I bracketed it with various auto-WB settings (sun, AWB and clouds). Since it was a mildly cloudy day, the cloud setting worked the best.

> Did you use any filters to get you up to 5 seconds and or even out the scene?
The only filter I used here is a circular polarizer. It created more punchy colors for greens and browns plus reduced the water glare. As for exposure, I like to takes such scenes when: a) it is a late afternoon and the light is not as harsh; b) it is overcast and not sunny. That allowed me to take a small exposure shot with a reasonably long shutter speed. Trying to remember that day, I think that I "over"exposed the scene a bit since it was pretty gloomy as-is.

Thanks for your composition pointers. I'd agree with all of them! There is always another time I guess

Over and out,
Misha