This sequence of frames started with watching 2 young bears mock fighting and relaxing in a pool. After a while they started making their way upstream and stopped about 150 yards away. It was then that an older female appeared around a bend in the river. One bear made a beeline for the woods as if he was shot from a cannon while the other bear stood up to see what the fuss was about. When he spotted the female he started running in our direction and suddenly directly toward us. Afterwards, our guide Jerry guessed that the bear being chased may have suspected that our little group of 5 might be a sow with cubs. He would instinctively know that in this situation the imagined mother would go after the aggressive bear so he headed towards us. He was actually hoping to use us to ward off his attacker.
My initial instinct was to stand up so I would be able to move if need be but I also remember having the sense to know that if I did separate from the group I could possibly trigger a chase response and the bear's focus could switch to me. The only option was to remain kneeling, keep shooting, and pray we didn't get run over by 2 500 lb bears.
Thankfully, Jerry had the presence of mind to to stand up, wave his walking stick over his head, and shout at the top of his lungs to make sure we were seen.
From the time the bears started to run till the time they passed us took all of about 10 seconds. Bears can easily run 30 mph and these 2 were going full tilt as they passed us and continued the chase for another 200 yards or so till they were out of sight. We paced off the distance between our footprints and the bears, they had passed by less than 12 feet from us ! The adrenaline rush coursing through my shoulders and spine is something I had never experienced before and will not soon forget.