It’s Meerkat Monday. The day you still wish you could sit in the grass, enjoying the last remains of a just too short weekend.

It is (was) Wolf Wednesday with @C4tch_TwentyTwo. This portrait was challenging – black fur and brightly lit background. One of the few moments I had to use a classic reflector disc to lighten him up more than enough.

Istari, in the last shadows the rising morning sun is about to warm up.

The big green-yellow stains are actually leaves of a tree very close to the camera.

Sometimes people seem to wonder why still buy expensive cameras if your smartphone with it's 64MP can just do the job.
A friend just sent me this, 7x digital zoom on a Pixel 8a - which really does have a good camera.
Still looks like the upscaling algorithm tried to paint an animal.

@lumyle invited you to go seesaw with her. Will you join in?

Taken at the Köbe Animal Park where the community is invited yearly to their festivities. Oddly enough it always seems to rain exactly that day, every year.

I’m personally not a big fan of social media. It takes a lot of time and effort to maintain all that. But here you go: https://www.instagram.com/purrtastic_photos/
Leave a follow and share. Photos from here will be also mirrored there.

@kivikawaii and @midas_qu are on their way to your rescue. Although, you may need additional rescue afterwards.

Have a Caracal for Wednesday.

Enjoy your summer like @C4tch_TwentyTwo does!

Sachsen Fur Dance is over. Coolest temperatures for hottest photos.

Far up in the trees sat a grey heron. I have no clue about birds, but I guess it might be a nest.

This was in Prague, when the midday sun was so nice that all other animals just hid and I had to photograph birds. Which are pretty, too!

Once or twice a year I am going for a day long tour as passenger on a historical steam train, with additional other engines later on in Czech. This time we went from Dresden to Kořenov, pulled by 35 1097 and later by T478 3001.

Today they've done the same tour again and I took the chance to take a video of the steam engine as it passes by.
I really wanted to try out how this works (never done before) and it's actually not that easy. There is many things you can do wrong for an apparently very simple task.

Anyhow, I am kind of happy with how it turned out.

The intro is quite long – it is about the sound as the train slowly approaches. To turn up your volume and enjoy until the very end of the video.

@lumyle posing for the camera in her most expensive outfit.

There’s this one cat that has the tendency making my camera accidentally follow it any time. And with the great skill to pose for it any time.

Rikki will be at Awoostria next week. Say hello if you see this puma!

There I will offer #photoshoots – free of charge. Instead I ask to be invited for a meal or some drinks (no alcohol) where we can also have a chat.
Leave a comment just at this post if you are interested. I will contact you directly.

📸 @C4tch_TwentyTwo

The first photos of Awoostria 2026 being done. Here we can see pretty Nomax and Varis (left to right) posing for your eyes. Say hello to them if you see them.

The park is a bit of underwhelming, most of it being a construction site and the other half burned to a desert by the sun. But very few spots actually are good enough for giving them a photo spot.