The two cute cubs wave for the camera: Keene, said: 'It was such a surreal moment for me as a photographer when I saw that wave movement.'

The curious cubs stood on their hind legs to watch the other family troop past when one of the young bears, who was struggling to balance, stuck out his paw.

Clinical pharmacist Laura Keene, 57, spotted the bears while visiting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on the Barrier Islands, of Barter Island in Kaktovik Alaska.

Keene, Mason, said: 'It was such a surreal moment for me as a photographer when I saw that wave movement. Though intellectually I knew it was simply the cub moving to keep his balance as he stood upright, I pressed the shutter desperately hoping that I could capture that scene in focus as our boat rocked and pulled away.


That event, in the character of the setting, with the mounds of snow and the wintery-grey background, are the sort of thing for which you always hope to be in the right place.'


She added: 'That day, our bear guide Ketil Reitan scanned the islands and noticed two families of bears, each with a mum and two cubs.