This was Mr. Eastman's last trip to Alaska, but the first time he had successfully killed a grizzly bear. This original image bears Associated Press markings, identified on the back with date, ID#, and a recommended caption for newspapers choosing to publish the image. The unidentified photographer who captured the photograph worked out of the AP's San Francisco bureau.

George Eastman was an avid outdoorsman throughout his life, but especially post-1900 when the newly incorporated Eastman Kodak Company required his daily intervention less and less. He would often take 3- or 6-month extended trips to exotic locales. However, in the late-1920s and early 1930s, his health was gradually worsening. Eastman shot this bear at close distance (80-90 yards) from a canoe, (he had traveled with friends to Alaska on a luxury motor yacht, the Westward, which was moored nearby) and he commented how it had been an easy shot.