Prairie Rattlesnake, (Crotalus v. viridis). Mescalero Sands, Chaves co., New Mexico. Nikon N-90, 200 micro.

-- Billy Gorum (Herphoto@aol.com), May 07, 2000

Answers

I love the framing elements- not just the bright border outside of the whole itself but the implication in the shadows around the outside of huge, gaping jaws and fangs. You are a brave man to have shot this with a 200. I would have picked a 300 +2x. However, the snake is a little too dark for me, but that might be what you are trying to say about the animal and its hiding place. Overall movement seems good in the picture.

I have been pretty close to some nasty rattlers and back widow spiders but this close? how close did you get to this one? Do you have good medical insurance?

-- Matthew Smith (mpsmith@email.unc.edu), May 07, 2000.

Billy,

Aha! I've got it! You used to fence in college, right? Fencing mask, shirt and gloves and you can get as close to rattlers as you want!

Seriously, though, this is a very nice pic. The only thing that would improve it for me would be to have taken it from a slightly higher vantage point so that the bottom of the rattler head is not obscured as much by the blurry bottom edge of the hole....

--Mark

-- Mark Erickson (maericks@netcom.com), May 08, 2000.

Great shot, Billy! It's sharp, great compositional elements and I do like the "rodents' perspective" of the snake waiting for a snack!

-- Jim Erhardt (editor@naturephotographers.net), May 09, 2000.