The String Performs (Miguel, Sundays, 9:30am)
By Relyks
A Cuban crocodile captured mid-leap during a weekly ritual feeding. Shot through glass using high-speed burst, this image captures more than a strike—it frames a posthuman system at work. The string, deployed by machine at a scripted moment, becomes the hinge between human intent, mechanical gesture, and animal instinct. This is not an action shot of a crocodile; it is a portrait of a posthuman system.
This image was taken during a planned, weekly Sunday morning feeding at a zoo enclosure, where Miguel, a Cuban crocodile, leaps for a suspended mouse. The string is released not by hand but by a zookeeper’s button, triggering a mechanical descent synced with her narration. I didn’t plan to make a triptych, but the moment unfolded with such clarity—from whirr to drop to strike—that I instinctively shot in burst mode.
At first, it looked like spectacle. But in editing, I realized the string was the true subject. It’s the interface—the moment when ritual, animal instinct, and machine choreography meet. That’s where the meaning lived.