My wife has already used this picture of our hamster Zhora for December 25th. I decided to post it on JSVB to celebrate January 7th: Orthodox Christmas.
I've been asked how we convinced our hamster to wear the little hat. The answer is, we didn't.
Zhora is not good for posing in front of the camera. See JSVB Post #1447 (by please clicking here) for proof. One trick we've learned is to surprise her out in the open with her favourite food. She will sit and munch chickweed, spinach, or a small piece of fruit very happily. Usually, she turns her back to the camera, so we have to nudge her to get her to face in a photogenic direction. I have a good collection of hamster butt photos now, again see JSVB Post #1447.
And so: the hat. Zhora and the hat do not get along. Fortunately, photography is near instantaneous, converting a ten thousandth of a second into something that can last forever.
I laid the bait, my wife positioned the hamster and I primed the camera with my finger on the trigger. My wife held the hat above the hamster in such a way that her hand was out of the frame. I instructed: "On go, I press the shutter and you drop the hat onto Zhora's head!"
3, 2, 1, go!
My wife dropped the hat and I mashed the trigger button. The camera took the photo the precise moment the hat touched the hamster. A twinkling trice after this picture Zhora shook off the hat, stole the food, and ran out of the frame.
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