We caught up with two of those photographers, who told us that capturing the many personalities of the little critters is both fun and challenging. They\u2019re both small \u2013 about the size of a potato \u2013 and have unique habits.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re very fast-moving animals, so trying to predict where they\u2019re going to be in the shot can be very difficult,\u201d said Aaron Cox, the lensman behind Aaron\u2019s Wild Images.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not just practice-makes-perfect, either. Developing the skill of pika photography is about developing a relationship with the animal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you spend enough time with them and they get to know you, they start feeling more comfortable with you,\u201d said Deena Sveinsson of Deena Sveinsson Photography. \u201cThat\u2019s when they allow you to get a little closer and see behaviors they might not show other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sveinsson captured this writer\u2019s personal favorite pika photo, which shows a fully airborne pika eyeing the camera with a mouthful of flowers in tow.<\/p>\n
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Deena Sveinsson Photography<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a photo that took a lot of patience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been trying for years to get this type of photograph to be ground level. A lot of places you can take photos of pikas, you\u2019re looking down on them or they\u2019re quite the distance away,\u201d Sveinsson said. \u201cIt\u2019s taken […] a lot of work, a lot of misfiring, misfocusing, a lot of bad photographs, even ones without pikas in them because they\u2019re so quick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aaron said he\u2019s gone through thousands of photos trying to get certain shots of pikas across Colorado\u2019s mountains.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to catch their personalities \u2013 what makes each animal individual,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes they\u2019re aggressive, sometimes they\u2019re doing funny things. I want to capture them in certain moods and personalities and show them to the best they can be.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Aaron’s Wild Images<\/p>\n
For Deena, all of the work is not just about capturing photos of a cute and cuddly critter. It\u2019s about making a difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurning the ordinary into the extraordinary makes me happy,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I can introduce somebody to a species or behavior, it\u2019s a rush.\u201d<\/p>\n
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A passion for pikas<\/p>\n
An expertise in pika photography came from very different places for these two.<\/p>\n
For Deena, a love of lagomorphs \u2013 the zoological term for rabbits, hares and pikas \u2013 came first. \u201cIt was actually the subjects that drew me into wanting to do photography,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s owned rabbits since she was young. She has two giant continental rabbits, Jackson and Cooper, as pets in her Estes Park home now.<\/p>\n
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Denver7<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I have that passion, I\u2019m able to spend days and hours out in the weather, in conditions I wouldn\u2019t normally go out in, because I love taking photographs of these animals,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Aaron, on the other hand, calls photography an \u201cobsession\u201d \u2013 but didn\u2019t know what a pika was until a few years ago. It was an intersection of wildlife photography and his other interests in off-roading and hiking that introduced him first to the distinct squeak of the pika, then, with the help of a big lens, to the animal and its habits.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re a very fascinating animal, so it\u2019s been a great journey to learn about them as well as photograph them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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Aaron’s Wild Images<\/p>\n
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The state of the pika population<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an important time for an awareness campaign, too.<\/p>\n
The National Park Service has designated the pika as an \u201cindicator species\u201d to the potential impacts of climate change. Pikas are intolerant to heat and reliant on snowpack, and rising temperatures are negatively impacting their habitat and driving them into higher elevations. The worry is that even Colorado\u2019s highest elevations could become incompatible with pikas\u2019 survival.<\/p>\n
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Deena Sveinsson Photography<\/p>\n
Temperature increases are to blame in part for the pika population dwindling in places like California\u2019s Sierra Nevada mountains.<\/p>\n