If it bites you it WILL hurt.....

 This week I photographed some slightly more exotic than usual creatures. Parrots, snakes, lizards, tortoise and a random African barn owl. There was a crocodile there too but it was a big one and too dangerous to handle. We started off with the barn owl as it was the most calm and would be easiest to deal with. It was perfect and between every shot it moved it's head a centimetre or so to keep an eye on me. If I could speak owl I would have asked it to do just that. Of all the things I've ever photographed the owl was the easiest. Not because it was well behaved, which it was, but because it was so photogenic. Every shot was kind of great and I haven't had to do a thing with them on the computer. It was truly beautiful. Maybe the most beautiful thing I've ever had in my hand..... 

African Barn Owl

.........Apart from at lunch time when it definitely let the side down...............

Swallowing a mouse whole

Next on the list were parrots. These guys weren't so relaxed as the owl and we had a very small window before they lost interest and literally flew away. These are handsome, long lived birds with real personalities. They craved attention but were very quick to panic when anything unusual happened. "It doesn't take much wi them parrots", said Steve, the creature handler with a voice like a weary husband. We probably got about 20 shots of each bird bird but this was more than enough.

Macaw

African Grey Parrot

     After the birds came the reptiles. I shot quite a few but I'm just going to post my favourites. The most interesting was probably the Boa Constrictor. When I asked to handle it Steve said, with typical northern candour,"I'll get him out but he WILL go for you, and if he bites you it WILL hurt and you WILL bleed A LOT". I sensed there was something of the challenge in these words so we got him out anyway. He wasn't joking. Every time I got the camera within about 6 inches of the snake it struck at the lens. It was ace. I just had to hide behind the camera and I was pretty much out of harms way. Don't get me wrong, I was bricking it. Behind the camera you very easily loose track of the distance between you and the subject so every few minutes I'd pop my head over the lens to realise I was only a few inches away and in danger of getting a nasty bite. This snake was incredibly aggressive but try as I might I never got the killer shot of him striking. 

Boa Constrictor

       Dragons next. The Bearded Dragon is probably the most common lizard to be kept as a pet in the UK. After meeting this one it's easy to see why. They have real personalities and are surprisingly gentle. Also, like all good animal models, they are completely driven by food so as long as you've got a wriggling grub in your hand,"they'll let you do owt". You can see by this ones alert stance that he is totally locked onto the prey/food. I kind of wanted to take this lizard home with me by the end of the shoot.

Bearded Dragon