This image dates back from 2012 and was taken on a wet October day.

Leaping squirrel shots seem to be in in abundance on the web in recent years, however this is not an image that I set out to achieve.

I had noticed that this particular squirrel was entering the area where I was photographing by using the broken limb from a tree and then leaping onto a nearby tree. I set out to find another broken limp that was curved in such as way that it would be of a similar height to the one the squirrel was using. After finding a suitable one I set them fairly close together and waited to see what the squirrel would do.

Straight away he leaped across the modest gap between the two branches and that is when I set up my camera and lens to get this image with the squirrel leaping towards me. I was keen to include both the start and end point of the leap otherwise I would end up with a squirrel suspended in mid air and to me this would look fake. I know I “created” this opportunity but I already had half the setup in place and used material that I found close by to complete the image.