101 Dalmatians Themed Engagement Photos

Are you a big Disney fan? Love 101 Dalmatians? Corinne Jones and her fiance Tony Collier love both and wanted to recreate the scene from the animated movie in which Pongo takes the initiative to unite Roger and Anita in the park.

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(Disney)

Here is the animation of the entire scene:

The couple dressed in period fashion and used their own dogs Izzy, a mastiff mix, and Mookie, a black lab mix. While not dalmatians the two dogs are such a part of their owner’s lives that they deserved a part in the photos and memories for the couple. The dogs were incredibly well behaved and helped the shoot become what it needed to be. The hardest part was making sure that the couple’s facial expressions matched those from the animation scenes. The photographer is the couple’s cousin Melissa Biggerstaff.

Not yet together:
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(Rusty Lion – Melissa Biggerstaff)

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(Rusty Lion – Melissa Biggerstaff)

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(Rusty Lion – Melissa Biggerstaff)

The reason the couple likes the love story in the movie so much Corinne explains:

“I’ve always loved that Roger and Anita were not the typical fairy tale — they were believable characters who didn’t just come together merely by wishing on a star and casting a magic spell, Pongo had to take the first step.”

Taking the initiative:
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(Rusty Lion – Melissa Biggerstaff)

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(Rusty Lion – Melissa Biggerstaff)

The couple started their relationship at a marching band formal in 2009. Disney has been a part of their relationship ever since. Their first vacation together was to Disney World and both worked at the Magic Kingdom after graduation. When Tony proposed he set up a scavenger hunt that ended with a picture of Corinne as Cruella da Vil, her favorite villain, and he used the lines of the villain’s henchman Horace who stated that he didn’t want a princess but a villain. So it was only natural to incorporate 101 Dalmatians into their engagement photos.

They even took photos of the pond scene:
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(Rusty Lion – Melissa Biggerstaff)

In which they got wet but did not actually take a dip in the pond.

And Roger offering his sodden handkerchief:
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(Rusty Lion – Melissa Biggerstaff)

Very cute and a unique idea! Did you incorporate your pets into special photo sessions like your engagement or wedding?

 

You can see more of the photos from the shoot here, and read more about the couple here.

Weasel flying on a Woodpecker?!

Have you seen this amazing photograph?

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(Martin Le-May)

That is a weasel clinging to the back of a green woodpecker in flight!

These photos of a weasel attacking a woodpecker were taken in Hornchurch County Park in Essex when the photographer Martin Le-May was out with his wife searching for Green Woodpeckers. They saw a flash of green feathers and heard the bird squawking. Upon further investigation they discovered the bird was in a fight for its life. The weasel attempting to make the bird its meal was lifted into the air on the woodpecker’s back as the bird tried to escape. Miraculously, the bird did escape!

Here is the fight and initial take off:
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(Martin Le-May)

This photographer was very lucky to be in the right place at the right time, and the woodpecker is even more lucky to have escaped! Weasels are light weight but fearless predators that usually prey on rabbits. So while the ground feeding Green Woodpecker looked appealing the weasel was a little out of its element. The bird was able to take off and fly with the weasel on its back because of how light they are.

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(Martin Le-May)

Here is the firsthand account of the photographer from iTV News:

It was a sunny afternoon, with the occasional cloud making the Hornchurch Country Park seem that grey brown dull winter colour even though it was the 2nd March.

My wife, Ann, and I had gone for a walk. I had hoped that she might see a green woodpecker as she has not really seen one before.

As we walked we heard a distressed squawking and I saw that flash of green. So hurriedly I pointed out to Ann the bird and it settled into the grass behind a couple of small silver birch trees. Both of us trained our binoculars and it occurred that the woodpecker was unnaturally hopping about like it was treading on a hot surface. Lots of wing flapping showing that gloriously yellow/white colour interspersed with the flash of red head feathers. Just after I switched from my binoculars to my camera the bird flew across us and slightly in our direction; suddenly it was obvious it had a small mammal on its back and this was a struggle for life.

The woodpecker landed in front of us and I feared the worst. I guess though our presence, maybe 25 metres away, momentarily distracted the weasel. The woodpecker seized the opportunity and flew up and away into some bushes away to our left. Quickly the bird gathered its self respect and flew up into the trees and away from our sight.

The woodpecker left with its life, the weasel just disappeared into the long grass, hungry.

– MARTIN LE-MAY, PHOTOGRAPHER

Nature is all around us, you never know what you might find when you start to pay attention!

-Fizz

Sources:
iTV News
BBC News

Photoshopped

People can create amazing pictures on Photoshop by combining different animal pictures together. The article I found on Petapixel describes these creations as Chimeras. A Chimera originally referred to the mythological Greek animal combination of a lion, goat and snake (usually portrayed as a lion with goat head on its back and a snake tail). Now the term Chimera can be used to refer to any imaginary creature created using two or more animal pictures.

Here is an example of the original Chimera:

Bronze Chimera of Arezzo, in Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Florence.

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Here are some examples of modern Photoshopped Chimeras:

Guinea Pig + Horse

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Whale + Penguin

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Duck + Horse

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Guinea Pig + Lion

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All of these photos are examples are from Petapixel. Click the link to see more photos and read a short tutorial about the process if you want to create your own Chimeras.

I really want to start looking for appropriately colored and posed animal photos to try and create my own examples!

Lion Photos

Sorry for the lack of recent posts, I just got back from vacation.

Animal Planet has a great article about special cameras that can be used remotely to take pictures of wildlife.  The Beetlecam is a remote controlled buggy that has a DSLR camera attached to it created by two brothers, Will and Matt.

Here are two of the cameras:

(William Burrard-Lucas)

The creators of the camera wanted to take amazing pictures of African wildlife, specifically lions. Here are some of the pictures that they were able to capture with their modified cameras:

Up close and personal:

(William Burrard-Lucas)

Male Lion

(William Burrard-Lucas)

Cubs

(William Burrard-Lucas)

Lion chewing on the reinforced BeetleCam

(William Burrard-Lucas)

You can read the full article from Animal Planet here, and can see the full galleries of pictures from the BeetleCam Project here.

Big Cats

I was looking online for pictures of lions when I happened across a blog entry on webecoist that features amazing pictures of 10 different big cats. I have posted some of my favorites:

Tiger

Black Panther

Snow Leopard

Visit the original entry for more pictures and information about the big cats.

Wonderful Wildlife Photography

The 2010 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is open and receiving entries.

This is the 46th year of the competition which is owned by the UK Natural History Museum and the BBC Wildlife Magazine.  This is a contest which wildlife photographers aspire to enter and win. The competition features an adult and youth competition. If you take wonderful wildlife photos, consider entering the contest.

Here are some of the best images from the 2009 competition:

Young Overall Winner: Clash of the Yellowhammers by Fergus Gill

11 to 14 year old Highly Commended: Snow Bath by Sander Brostrom

Winner for Animal Behavior – Mammals: Boto Water Polo by Kevin Schafer

A Runner- Up in the same category: Hare Spat by Morten Hilmer

Urban and Garden Wildlife Winner: Respect by Igor Shpilenok

Highly Commended in Nature in Black and White: Lone Lion by Britta Jaschinski