A Photoshoot In Russia. In The Snow. With A 650kg Grizzly Bear
Apr 29, 2015
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Photographer Olga Barantseva recently created a series of photographs with two beautiful models. But this is where the story stops being normal.
The companion for this photoshoot was a 650kg brown grizzly bear named Stephen.
You need some balls to pose next to such a dangerous animal, even if it is 100% tamed. A friendly “high five” from one of those paws will leave you massively bleeding.
The series was taken in a forest just outside of Moscow for an anti-hunting campaign. Olga said that the photos were meant “to show the natural harmony between humans and bears“.




Stephan the bear is no strangers to humans. He was actually saved by his trainer about 18 years ago as a cub. Stephan was found in a near starvation state after being separated from its mother in a hunting chase. Sadly after being hand-reared, Stephan was not really fit for the wild life, and now he spends his time modeling for Russian movies and photoshoots.
The 2.2 meter animal was persuaded to open its mouth with a handful of treats, as you can see in the video below.
Udi Tirosh
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.




































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14 responses to “A Photoshoot In Russia. In The Snow. With A 650kg Grizzly Bear”
I still like your feed but crave more actual DIY photo projects.
So you have access to a grizzly …. the pictures are horrible!
This is ridiculous.
An advert to ban hunting that contains a captive animal seems an odd choice, even if it was a rescue. Then again I guess it works for the RSPCA against animal cruelty. Just such a massive predator being manipulated in this way doesn’t sit well with me.
Also not entirely sure you can say any animal is 100% tame. It’s 100% tame until it rips you a new one!
I complained about that hyprocracy on another site about people using exotic game hunting as a way to support conservation of said game such as Rhinos and Tigers.
People were jumping out of the woodwork left and right to defend the hunters. I still don’t get it.
Hunters contribute around 70% of conservation dollars for most game species, at least in the USA. Without that money, there are not enough people willing to step up and pay for these animals to have habitat–and they’ll die out. If that money supports a healthy population, and hunters take 5% of that population, doesn’t that seem like a good trade-off?
I think the word you’re looking for is “irony” not “hypocrisy” since hunters have a vested interest in the ability of animals to survive & thrive.
Fred Castor mss is dit wat voor je ipv je vogels
Good thing this wasn’t for an underwear ad, because she certainly may have been crapping in her pants.
I need to try this next weekend!
You can’t speak Russian to a bear!
Damn animal p0rn !
The bear was saved as a ‘cab’? I had no idea that he used to be a taxi.
so true – fixed it!