Andrius Burba's New Look at Animals

I'm sure we've all seen the feature video that floats around Facebook of the photographer who has begun a series of projects featuring the undersides of animals. His name is Andrius Burba, and his project is based out of Germany, but his work is gaining popularity quickly, thanks to the internet. There are series of different animals, including dogs, cats, horses and rabbits. 

To get each series, Burba situates himself below the animal, which is sitting on a piece of glass. The background of each picture is black, keeping the focus of the audience on the animal, and also allowing for the light of the flash to reflect upon all of the details of the underside of the animal. The photo series of the horses was the most in depth, because of the nature of the shot and of the animals. A hole was dug into a pasture, and a sort of wooden box with a glass top was situated into the hole. The horses also wore a custom rubber cover over their shoes to prevent scratching the glass and for more traction as well. The horses were well trained, and performed some tricks to provide the angles for a good shoot. There were a few challenges in the shoot, they choose to shoot in winter and had to deal with condensation and frost on the glass. Horses also have ways of communicating boredom, particularly when they are forced to stand in one spot for extended periods, one of these behaviors is pawing, which could have scratched the glass or chipped it. 

I like this photographer because it really does provide a change in the typical perspective that we usually look at animals with. The cats and dogs are interesting to look at, but I think that more personality is conveyed through the pictures of the horses (though I could be biased). By looking at the animals from above, the photographer exposes a whole new set of details on the animals body that aren't as well known. 

The whole project has its own website: underlook.org