As I said in the introduction, I try to avoid the cliché image of the red squirrel on a tree stump nibbling away at a nut of some sort. Not that there is anything wrong with these images, however it does not help to show the squirrel in its natural forest habitat. I strive to “keep it real” but at the same time produce a pleasing image.

I have also seen cases where the photographer tries to improve on nature and what ends up happening is that so many fake stumps and props are brought onto the site that it is damaged beyond repair – a bit like plastic surgery that goes wrong.

Here I saw an opportunity, with the right positioning, to use a line of trees to provide some depth to what is otherwise a two-dimensional image. Once I had the composition all I needed was the subject and of course light. Eventually everything fell into place and the image that I pre-visualised came to be.