I took this photograph at a local park in Winnipeg, Canada. I’d happened upon the colony of ground squirrels the day before and so returned to capture some images of them. At the time, I was experimenting using my Nikon 28mm f/2.8 Ai-s manual focus lens, mainly for the comedic effect of shooting closeup with a wide angle lens.

Lying on my front, these two little ground squirrels were completely unfazed by my presence, with some climbing on my camera and chewing on the lens hood. Others were much more standoffish.

They move very quickly and focusing with a manual lens was very challenging, especially with a shallow depth of field. Both the squirrels had found something to eat and were nibbling away at the moment I pressed the shutter. This resulted in the near squirrel having an evil smirking appearance, which combined with the hands, almost looked like it was plotting something, with his counterpart concurring in the background. It reminded me of the cartoon “Pinky & The Brain”.

Other than basic sharpening and cropping, nothing else was done to the image.