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August 15, 2006

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Like small prairie dogs, these little ground squirrels seem to dig holes and tunnels all over the place. Although they can be somewhat of a nuisance, they are quite entertaining to watch as they chase each other around in a very playful manner. As I was leaving the house one day I looked off to the side, behind my uncle's shop, and saw this little critter just standing there, looking off into the distance. As if it were in some kind of daze, it didn't move at all. 
As I have learned, I like to immediately take some pictures of an animal before it can flee. Then I move in as little closer to get more, and I continue until the subject finally does get uncomfortable enough with my presence, and runs away. With this tactic, I can be sure to get at least some pictures of the creature.
So, in my car, I pulled up to get a closer look and took a few pictures. I pulled up a little closer and took a few more. I continued as usual, and the thing still never moved. I drove up within ten feet of this little rodent before it finally dropped to the ground, faced my vehicle, and twitched it's tail at the edge of it's hole. As if playing some kind of game of chicken, it allowed me to catch quite a few close up shots of it before it finally ducked into the ground.

On a more photographical note, while trying to focus and get a good clear shot directly of it's head, I actually realized that, with the very sensitive auto-focus and focal point of my camera, the best way to lock in on the appropriate distance was to first focus on it's feet and then move up to it's head. The camera actually kept trying to auto-focus on the areas in the distance, behind it's head. Of course this is not always an easy thing to practice on since animals can often be somewhat quick and unpredictable.

However, in this case, it really helped that my subject thought it was invisible and was remaining absolutely still.
Of course that made me wonder what it was actually thinking at that very moment.

Perhaps something like? "Keep absolutely still.  His vision is based on movement."

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