A young girl feeds some sweet treats to Stepan. MOSCOW, RUSSIA: MEET THE real life BEAR abandoned by his mum and raised by humans who now has a flouri
A young girl feeds some sweet treats to Stepan. MOSCOW, RUSSIA: MEET THE real life BEAR abandoned by his mum and raised by humans who now has a flourishing career modelling alongside adults and children. In one image, a woman in a full-length fairy-tale dress held hands with the 750-pound bear as she leant in for a kiss. In another, the bear wrapped its hands around a lollipop offered to him by one of his fellow models. Photographer, Mila Zhdanova (40) from Moscow, Russia, met Stepan the 28-year-old bear through her friendship with the bear?s owners, Svetlana and Yuri Pantileenko. Stepan, who is a brown bear, has lived with humans his whole life after his mother abandoned him as a cub. Inspired by Stepan?s friendliness around humans, Mila set out to create a series of fantasy-inspired scenes featuring Stepan posing alongside models in traditional Russian dress. The shoot was done across several months in Moscow, Russia, as Stepan only works for half an hour at a time. The brown bear has become a widely used symbol in Russia. Most recently, it can be seen emblazoned on the logo of the United Russia political party which has maintained prominence since the early 2000s. / Mila Zhdanova
Size: 6021px × 6021px
Photo credit: © Media Drum World / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: anima, animal, bear, brown, drum, landscape, mdrum, mdrumf, mdw, mdwf, mdwfeatures, media, mediadrumworld., model, modelling, nature, pet, photoshoot, russia, trainer, wildlife, world
