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Sunday, April 10, 2016

April 10. Day 101. Snakes (not) alive




One of those family stories of legend involves one of my nieces, and she'll know which one I'm taking about, and a very short-lived ambition to be a nature photographer. Her parents were delighted at this career ambition and decided to foster her talent by buying her a camera. But before the first frame was shot the realisation hit that nature photography probably involved getting out into the natural environment. The natural environment involves things that bite, sting, scratch, creep, crawl or poo. That, she decided, was totally not her thing. Career over. This is, of course, an extremely amusing anecdote but also a philosophy I adhere to totally. All God's creatures were not created equally and some are best avoided. Snakes are pretty much at the top of that list. I wish them no harm but I also wish they'd stay away from me. We both stick to that. Which makes today's images especially surprising. I went to lunch at the acreage home of one of my husband's work colleagues. I was attracted to the pretty dam so went to take a close look. And then I saw the snake. And then I saw the other snake which just happened to be in the mouth of the first one. Normally I would have run but 1) my foot got stuck in the mud, another disadvantage of nature photography; 2) the snake had its mouth too full to pose any risk to me and 3) I had my camera in its normal position around my neck and this was not a photographic opportunity I was going to miss even if it involved a snake or two. So there you have it. I suspected today's photos would be about lunch but never in my wildest dreams did this come to mind. Perhaps I could be a wildlife photographer when I grow up assuming 1) I will grow up 2) I will lose my fear of wildlife.




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