I’m not sure if there’s much curiosity out there about how I’ve been capturing images of small rodents these past six months, but I thought it might be fun to share the process.
Pictured above is the most recent edition of what I fondly call “Rat Theater“. The basic ingredient, or foundation of the theater is the aquarium which I’ve broken out the bottom glass. The entrance is through a hole cut in the middle of the screen top. The left glass panel has a hole cut into it with a door piece that blocks the hole until I’m ready to open to remove the animal. As Snaglepuss would say, “Exit, stage left”, and back into the Sherman trap from whence it came. Snap goes the trap door and the animal is safely removed and the stage is ready for the next actor. Stage props, both inside and out are gathered from the native surroundings. Rocks, sticks, grass, cactus, shrubs are placed in order to provide the look and feel of locations that the subject might find on it’s home turf. Color corrected (adjustable) lights rest on the overhead screen and I lay on my belly and take pictures.
I’ve modified the setup slightly each time I set up the stage. I try out variations of the theme with each new effort, based on observations from the results of the previous session. Sound like fun?
