Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Happy (hippo) Feet

As most of you know by now, I have spent a lot of time, with the hippo family in the Ragunan Zoo in Jakarta, Indonesia. As a hippo lover to be able to come so close to them, is really very special. But as a photographer, being able to "fill the frame" with hippo, is just awesome. I know, it is cheating a little bit... and absolutely not the same as making similar pictures of wild hippos. I hope to be able to do that some day. Probably, I will have to use a mega-zoom as I do not think it will be safe to come anywhere near them... Many people ask me why I like hippos so much. The most reasonable answer (if there is any ;-)) I can come up with is that I like the fact that most body parts are out of proportion. The mega-mouth.... the huge head with on top of it: tiny turning and flapping ears. A huge behind, with a small (funny looking) tail and an enormous body, with legs that really look too small..... Just looking at them make me laugh.... but really explaining..... is impossible, of course! Having visited my hippo friends so many times, I must have a zillion photographs of all of them. Not only of their heads, open mouths and ears, but also of every other body part. These are the legs and happy feet of Dania, the hippo mum of the family. And every time I see these feet, I wonder.... what color nail polish would she like???

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