The Exotic Animal Encounter

Back in October last year I got to shoot with some very special models, Binky the owl, Jax the fox and Holly and Zack the racoons.

This shoot was a collaboration with stylist Fay Bruno, we'd been trying to arrange a shoot since I'd first moved to Peterborough and after models cancelling and all sorts of other things getting in our way, we finally got round to planning something big!

I'd previously come across a selection of photographs featuring animals and particularly love the work of Katerina Plotnikova. Her images have a real enchanted and surreal feeling to them. So when the opportunity came about to work with The Exotic Animal Encounter I said yes straight away!

For our shoot we shot at Holme Fen Nature Reserve in Peterborough (one of the very few photo locations here, although I'm yet to explore further) as I wanted the photos to be set in a realistic environment for the animals. Fay styled the shoot amazingly, selecting vintage clothing that worked really well with both the colours of the animals and the woodland.

For make-up I wanted it to be kept fairly natural to reflect the natural environment that we would be shooting in and Eloise Wilson did the perfect job on our model Misha G. Misha was a pleasure to work with and had the exact look that we were aiming for, she worked really well with the animals, managing to concentrate on her own poses, while also ensuring that she interacting with the animals as well.

Kelly and Matt from The Exotic Animal Encounter were so helpful throughout the shoot, doing what they could to help us get the images that we wanted and also educating us about the animals as well. I'd highly recommend getting in touch with them if you're looking to run educational talks, sensory or phobia sessions or even events.

I'm really pleased with the images and hoping to plan another shoot with the animals very soon. A selection of images were featured in the latest issue of Darkus magazine which can be brought here.

Big thanks to Holly Palmer-Davison for her retouching skills on the fox on this last image.

 © Jemma Dodd Photography

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