The perils of photographing animals...

Who here loves their pets? Yay! So do I! With a tiny flat rapidly approaching zoo proportions (containing five rats, three puffer fish, a bearded dragon and a marine tank... oh and two pinkies, also known as people), you would think there would be ample photographic opportunities.

You would be wrong.

Toots (aka rats) are incredibly sweet little critters. Awww, look at these two? Sweet aren't they?

Yes they are sweet until they realise they're being photographed! At this point, you end up with a critter that is less gorgeous and more Gollum...

Of course, you might think that this strange affliction is restricted to one little toot (the lovely specimen pictured above is Wynnie, with a rather prettier looking Moose). 

However, it would appear not, for after struggling with the new and swanky camera a few days later, I set up the shot beautifully to get a snap of Beattie and ended up with this:

So I have come away with a whole new respect for wildlife photographers. I can't even get a good pic in the controlled environment of my own home with a domestic animal. Goodness knows what would happen if I attempted to snap a lion pursuing gazelle across the Serengeti!