A photographer from Belgium has captured some adorable photos of red squirrels stopping by to smell the flowers. Just as we humans enjoy beautiful blooms, these small critters cannot seem to get enough of their sweet fragrance either.
The heartwarming images are a result of a collaboration between the self-taught photographer and talented floral artist Wout Knuts.
“I started with joy and passion, letting the squirrels interact with flowers,” Mr. Colemont said.
Apart from just liking the smell of the flowers, Mr. Colemont noticed the squirrels also enjoy eating roses, daisies, daffodils, marigolds, hyacinths, and geraniums.
Mr. Colemont has won several accolades for his photos of squirrels and has photographed them in natural settings with different props such as dinosaurs, umbrellas, and shopping trolleys, earning him the moniker “squirrelman.”
His unusual hobby-turned-passion began in 2016 when he spotted a cheeky squirrel in his girlfriend’s grandmother’s garden. After installing a feeder filled with peeled walnuts and a wildcam, he was able to watch squirrels gleefully extracting the nuts. This got him hooked.
From then on—with no formal training in photography—he taught himself how to take pictures, using basic trial and error. Buying these new pieces of equipment opened up a new world of opportunities for him.
“My brain was on fire,” he told The Epoch Times, “and I started to get ideas—my goal was to get the squirrels into special poses without using Photoshop, thinking about things nobody else had done before.”
With the help of food, Mr. Colemont has been able to entice these playful, little creatures to come close to his set-ups. Over the course of six years and more than 3,200 hours of photographing and observing red squirrels, he has been able to capture images and moments that he'll never forget.
Through his photography career, Mr. Colemont has found that these squirrels are not only extremely cute but also very smart. In this latest set of photos taken in a forest close to his home, he hopes to show people just how endearingly clever these animals are, as well as what can be achieved without Photoshop.
Mr. Colemont is currently based in the small village of Diepenbeek, and, alongside bringing joy to a wide audience with his nature photography, he works in the automotive industry. But his settled life is now a long way from what he experienced in the country of his birth.
Born in Rwanda in 1986, just a few years before the Rwandan Civil War started, Mr. Colemont lost both his parents and was placed in an orphanage at the age of 4 with his older sister, Soni.
He was later adopted by Belgian parents.
He and his sister were 9 at the time and had an enormously difficult time adjusting to their new life in Europe. Mr. Colemont’s sister was very protective of her baby brother, supporting him as they grappled with a new climate, culture, school, and language.
Tragically, Soni died unexpectedly several years ago. Heartbroken, Mr. Colemont delved into photography and it helped him cope with his grief. Focusing on squirrels in particular has brought him immense comfort.
Below are some more adorable photos of squirrels with flowers:
