The Celebrity Photographer Who Swapped David Bowie for 1,600-Pound Bears

Famed photographer , known for her hyper-stylized portraits of stars like Clint Eastwood and David Bowie, turned her unique lens on a far wilder subject: massive bears. The result is a surreal collection of images that places grizzlies, polar bears, and black bears into a setting usually reserved for A-list celebrities.

The idea emerged after her 2007 "End Times" project, which captured children crying after their candy was taken. According to Greenberg, she wanted to do something more visceral and wild again. Her solution was to set up an outdoor studio and bring bears into her signature limelight, complete with glossy highlights and smooth, artificial lighting.

Her main concern, she noted, was safety. To mitigate the risk, she found "close contact" bears in Alberta, Canada, that were more approachable than their fully wild counterparts. Starting with five Kodiaks and one black bear, she was surprised by the results. "They looked like they weren't real," she said, attributing the effect to the studio lighting they had never been seen in before. She later added a polar bear from Vancouver and a 1,600-pound grizzly bear from California to the project.

Greenberg said her initial intention was to create a reflection of the angry criticism she received from the blogosphere in the early internet era. However, the project's focus shifted as it progressed. She became fascinated by the "strange duality" of the bears' nature—the brutal savagery hidden behind a fuzzy, misleadingly innocent facade. This led her to contemplate society's anthropomorphism of animals and the denial of their true nature.

The inclusion of a polar bear was also meant to raise awareness. She described them as "martyrs of global warming," noting that they could exist only in zoos within approximately 25 years. The neat collection of images was compiled into her book, "Bear Portraits." Now, over a decade later, Greenberg has paused animal photography to focus more on her painting, which she shares on her page.