Monday, March 9, 2009

Animal














This post contains graphic images that may go unappreciated by the squeamish.

If you were ever that student who kept passing out in Biology class (and you know who you are), then you may wish to consider looking no further.

True story:

Years ago, when I was in college, I came back to the dorm with a stack of photographs that I had snapped at the Bronx Zoo. I liked photography a lot, and I was probably more eager to show off my photos than most of my friends were interested in seeing them. But I prevailed upon my roommate to look at my new zoo shots, and I handed him the stack of prints to look through at his own pace.

He muttered one polite comment after another as he flipped through the photos, until.....

"Eewww!! What the hell is THAT?"


The tone of revulsion sounded excessive. I assured him that it was only just an ordinary caiman or crocodile in the picture. But he continued to look puzzled and disturbed, which began to puzzle me.





Then I noticed the awkward way that he was holding the print.

So I suggested that he try holding it this way:


But I'm sure that he had difficulty reorienting the image in his mind. He insisted that the animal was not like any crocodile he had ever seen. Then I recall that he flipped through all the rest of the prints, but without any more comments. Sheesh!

Anyway....

Nowadays my portrait subjects have fur.
That seems to help.


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17 comments:

Andrea said...

I love this little bundle of fur...what a great face!! :)

e said...

Cute dog! Thanks for your comments on my blog.

Dakota Bear said...

Beautiful dog! What breed?

The other pictures; first it looks like some type of bird than a crocodile.

Ronda Laveen said...

The croc looks like some wicked spawn corc. Great image. But then I am NOT the pass out type. Bring on the gore! I can see why some are appeased with the fur.

Tess Kincaid said...

Is this your dog? So adorable!!

Brian Miller said...

haha, you had me for a second there, teach me to read on before becoming engrossed. A turkey with a unicorn horn?

nice pics.

Colette Amelia said...

That first photo looked like an alien!

Kris McCracken said...

I would love to keep a pet crocodile, but alas, it's too cold...

Anonymous said...

Shucks! And I turned my head side-ways to see the croc. THEN I saw the second pic. It was still a croc. The picture, the picture! I like the post! And I never did get one for a pet :(

Ed & Jeanne said...

That orientation image is terrific!

Candie said...

LOL,I loved your post!But what was that?A crocodile,really?

I used to enjoy biology class actually that was physics that I hated!

Leah said...

Yes, dead duck or croc? How interesting.

dw said...

Andrea- Thanks! :)

e- Thanks and you're welcome.

Dakota Bear- Sasha is a corgi/chow mix. We think. The thing that looks like a bird...boy it does look like a bird!

Ronda- LOL!

willow- Thanks :)

Brian- LOL! Thanks.

Colette- That's what my roommate later said. LOL.

Kris- What would you feed him?

subtorp77- If your mom was like most moms, she wouldn't let you have one!

VE- Thanks.

Candie- I loved Bio too. Yup it's a crocodile. Look at the horizontal picture, and realize that it's floating in water. The bottom part half of the picture is a reflection.

Leah- LOL. Thanks.

CocoDivaDog said...

Your two dogs are adorable. That's a lot of fur!
And I think that old croc is STILL at the Bronx Zoo. I go there every summer. He looks familiar.
Thanks for visiting Dog Girl's blog.

Amanda at 32˙North said...

What a cutie that golden dog is!

Megan said...

That was neat! You had me fooled!

mouse (aka kimy) said...

you certainly had me off on a thought tangent thinking of my own photography 'habits' when I was younger, especially in college ....dead animals, live animals, animals copulating, animals eating, animals well doing all things....

beautiful subjects you have these days....