A selection of images from various animal shoots over the past year or so.
Animals have become my most commonly photographed subject in the studio, especially on black.
It doesn't matter whether they're less than half an inch tall...
...or six foot long, I'll shoot them all.
And, yes, all the reflections are real (the question I'm most commonly asked about images of this type).
Even mildly venomous animals aren't really a problem once you understand their behaviour, can anticipate their attitude, and work in a way that ensures safety for both the animals and crew.
While most reptiles are relatively straightforward, as long as you can maintain the temperatures they require, amphibians can pose potential issues.
They need to stay wet, for a start, which means that so do parts of the surface on which they're stood. They also need to be in quite a humid environment, which is not what you want with expensive electronic equipment, and you don't want to have them out for too long or stress can cause health issues very quickly.
Very young animals, especially hatchlings of various species of bird, are particularly common at certain times of the year, such as these three week old Serama Bantams.
This three week old Lanner Falcon.
And these one day old Northern Hawk Owls feeding from tweezers.
But adult birds also play a large part in my subject matter.
There are many "common names" for this bird; The Chilean Blue Buzzard Eagle, the Black Chested Buzzard Eagle and the Grey Buzzard Eagle, to name a few. It's not actually an eagle, it's just a very large buzzard.
Whatever you choose to call it, scientifically, it's known as Buteo melanoleucus.
This is a hybrid. A 7/8ths Gyr falcon, 1/8ths Saker Falcon. Put simply, one of his great grandparents was a Saker falcon. The other seven were Gyr falcons.
Hoods are often used with birds of prey for many of the same reason that blinkers are used with horses; To prevent them from becoming stressed or getting spooked by situations going on in the world around them.
This Yellow Billed Kite was an especially interesting visitor in the studio.
For some reason, though, it always seems to go back to dogs!
And sometimes the owners want to get in on the act, too. :)
