This month I pulled out several images of subjects that, for whatever reason, gave me a “look” as I was trying to capture their behavior. As we observe animals and birds, we have a natural tendency to interpret their expressions in anthropomorphic terms. It is well established that some animals and birds can exhibit behaviors that we interpret as emotions such as happiness, affection, sadness or fear. Perhaps they do not feel these emotions as we do, but many do react “emotionally” to their environments.
Looking at the photos here, I can’t help but feel that these animals and birds were trying to give the photographer (me) a message. I interpreted some as “get lost” like the Grackle at the water feature or a more obvious message from the Giraffe. The photo of the squirrel holding two black walnuts is one of my favorites. I titled this shot “Mr. Greedy” because when I surprised him on a wooden bridge, he just stood his ground and seemed to dare me to mess with his prize. Also, it was hard for him to affect the traditional squirrel warning call. I find it difficult to hold a telephoto lens steady while I’m laughing.
The duck with “the stare” was swimming straight for the camera and I wasn’t quite sure of his intent. He veered off at the last minute, but through the camera viewfinder it looked like “ramming speed”.
When photographing animals and birds I am striving for compositions that tell a story or convey a feeling in the viewer. In the situations here I was witnessing the expressions of my subjects that elicited a reaction from me. Try your hand at assigning your own captions to these photos and have some fun.
