Photo Close-up Friday – The Komodo Dragon
It’s time for Photo Close-up Friday, and today we are looking at the Komodo dragon. I last photographed these giant lizards back in 2020 – reptiles so unique and impressive that they have their own island! It and the few surrounding islands are also the only place in the world they are found naturally.
Photographing these beasts is not easy. They are obviously quite large, and very territorial. Unlike many lizards who will flee from humans, Komodo dragons have been known to attack aggressively. They will eat any kind of meat, from fellow reptiles and rodents to larger beasts such as water buffalo.
They are also low to the ground, and while I might be comfortable getting on my belly to photograph harbor seals, I’m not dumb enough to try that with these creatures! We created a special rig for my camera so I could get it down low, as if I were operating a vacuum cleaner – only instead of dirt, I was sucking up images!
See you next week for more Photo Close-up Friday!
Art
You have amazed and inspired me for many years! Attended one of your seminars in Charleston SC years back…been a fan ever since. Love the monkeys as they are sooo cute but the closeups of Komodo dragons…chilling!
Thanks for all you do to keep us intrigued and inspired!
Your caption says the Komodo dragon is “8.5 meters, 7.5 feet.” Those are not equivalent measurements. I think you meant to say 2.5 meters. The largest Komodo dragons are 3 meter long, which is just under 10 feet long; 8.5 meters equals 27.89 feet.
Thank you for the comment John. We’ll make that more clear in the future – the “m/f” notations were meant to imply male/female but I can see now how that could be confusing!