Lions… Tigers… Bears… OH MY!
With 8.7 million species on this planet, I was so excited to see which creatures from the animal kingdom you had included in your work!
How many different animals can you spy in this post?
Scroll through our community gallery of zoological wonders, including owls, horses, foxes, wolves, bears, deer, rabbits and more! If you look carefully, you might even see some rarer creatures such as elephants, tortoises, snails, snakes and tarantulas!
Thank you all for sharing these inspiring images with our community, we can’t wait to see what you share with us next week!
Join the groups to get involved with this week’s creative challenge!
Fairytales and Fantasy & The Color Lab Collective.
Animals, or rather insects, are common visitors in my photographs. I handcraft these textile sculptures and base them on real moth and butterfly species as Moth On The Wall.
The colorful fellows are a kind of day-flying moth called the Madagascan Sunset moth. Their wings feature nearly every color of the rainbow! It also happens to be #NationalMothWeek

Shout out to Faust of Willamette Valley Wolfdogs for being the bestest floofiest derpy wolf in all the land and performing his best werewolf attacks in trade for chicken nuggets.
It’s always an honor to work with animals to create art.
Flamingo image was photographed by Sylvie Blum.
Snake image was photographed by Allan Amato

Hey dear magical ones, this is my entry for the #Bellakotakchallenge this week. Me and Foxy Lady ❤️
Photo 1: Queen of the Forest
Photo 2: Queen of the Butterflies

The Tempest
Model: Danielle Gaskins
Horse Model: Jolt 🙂
Hair/Mua: Taylor Wallace
Dress and photo by me. 🙂

My first attempt with a cat, it wasn’t easy but we managed to get a couple of good shots!
Designer/mua/model: Elaine’s Couture

Photo: Konrad Bak
Dress: Ewa Jobko – Costume Designe

A portrait of a witch and her fox familiar taking tea in the woods.
Photograph by Rachel Lauren Photography, modeled by myself and Ena the fox (Ironwood Wolves)
For more photos check my IG :
MODEL /MUA : @MARIYAMTHABET
PHOTOGRAPHER /DESIGNER : @HANEN.SOUHAIL_ART

I was REALLY excited about this challenge, I am not able to make photographs at the moment, but this one took me back to last year, when I dedicated all 2019 to my #skinandfeathers series: portraits with different birds photoshopped in as co-protagonists.
For Bella’s ANIMAL KINGDOM challenge, I preferred to share another collaboration I did with fellow color lab-ist Yinsey Wang from this (crazy quarantined) year.
She made this beautiful feather bodice herself! I added in the skirt, swan and background, sending her to this surreal fantasy.
Shot and Model: @tornandpolished
Swan and background stock from: @unsplash
Edit: @ivanakarina.f
Color toned with The Color Lab using Midsummer’s Dream

Ode To Beauty
This was Andalucian Avalon’s first introduction to off camera flash, he was fabulous with his trainer in the shadows by his side… Modelled by the lovely Kat at Atkinson Action Horses, East Yorkshire.

Can you spot all these animals?
This image took some time to come together because it’s actually an assembly of a variety of image assets I’ve been gathering. This scene is comprised of photos from all over (New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Maryland, England & Oregon) and the models were shot in studio. While I considered shooting these all on location, the fairytale nature of the project led me to want to create scenes that don’t actually exist in the real world.

When I made these outfits I already had in mind my wish setting and shooting this with owls. I’m so happy with the results. I hope you like it as much as I do.
Outfits: www.instagram.com/thetailorwitch
Model left: Ginger Woods
Model right: @Luce Del Sole
Photo: Natalia Lefay
Owls: Seeleneulen
I am not the photographer but the designer who handmade the dresses.
Feel free to discover my work here: Général Guérisse
Image 1: Photographer: PikaGreg Photography [Grégory Pictures]
Model: Eljie Officiel
MUA : Angelp Hair and Make Up
Assistant: Céline Morel
Image 2: Photographer / Hair: Leigh Schneider
Modèle / MUA: Linda Schönherr Model [Linda Schönherr]

One of my past shoots fit this week’s challenge.
Models: Morgin Riley & Katniss the Lynx
Handlers: Kip & Chelsey
Wardrobe: Leather Creations by Kay Buchanan, Cocoon by Sara, Aesthetic Arrest, EcoNomadic
Assist: Savannah Seeger

It’s not really fantasy but I think it fits pretty well in the “Animal Kingdom” theme, since we were in a horses kingdom ! 🐴
Fun fact: I had to erase the sex of the young horse because it was really very big and attracted too much attention 😅
Otherwise there’s no retouching apart from basics (light and colors), it was all there!

In my self portraiture there’s a lot of birds that show up in my imagery, but they’re always an extra in the image.
But this one is all about the little lamb. This cute little fella was rejected by his mom at birth and as a result hand fed by my friends.
The innocence of the lamb, how it stares right into your soul and the timelessness of the image makes it one of my favourites and is my best selling print to date.

Protector // Modern Kazakh fairytale. I love how you can feel the tenderness in this moment, and the bond between man and beast.
Here is feathery friend Laska from Raptors Ridge Birds of Prey being a sweetheart with loveliest Assel Soltanbekova. I saw the beautiful pieces of Object and Dawn , and instantly knew that Assel would be the perfect face for her wearable art. It’s really incredible to feel how malleable and customizable these headpieces are…the photos do no justice at all! I’ll have the second look up soon with a different piece. 🌹
Makeup here is by the amazing Sydney Whalen Beauty , with hair helmed by talented Brooke Head . Styling was provided by the one and only Jason Pillay and assistance by one woman talent @dafioridesign
Thank you Raptors Ridge for being so thorough and helpful! It was my absolute honour.
I’m happy to share with you some pictures of a past editorial with these beautiful parrots for this new amazing #bellakotakchallenge.
Here are two of my animal images

My favorite model with her bunny
I made a series of Royal Portraits with real animals, here are a few results! 😁❤️ the one with the duck was the most fun one to do. It was the pet duck of the model, living in her garden 🦆. & he’s called Kip (which is Dutch for chicken😂👏🏻)

One of my absolutely most favorite photo sessions this year!
Valentin and I wanted to recreate our own “Witcher” Version (obviously he’s not Geralt nor any other character from the books/game) and we thought, why not combine the theme with a “real” wolf 😀
Tonda is such a great Co-model – besides I really love to work with animals especially with wolfhounds, since I feel a very strong connection to them.
Models: Valentin Lucien Winter & Baldur Tonda vom Elli-Rudel
This #bellakotakchallenge has definitely been my favourite so far and right now I can’t imagine one I would enjoy more.
“For me it is an essential part of my art to show human beings and animals that live together in mutual respect, thrust and love – as equals and as friends.”
(One thing I want to add is that I only ever work with animals that live a happy life and no animal is ever forced to interact with the model in any way.)
Here’s a couple conservation projects I created! Both shoots were fundraisers. Proceeds went to the Judith A Bassett Canine Education and Conservation Center and Shark Angels. Photography by Cathartic Photos and Reefhunter. I have some long posts about both on my instagram. Neither are composites in any way, just simple lighting and color corrections.
These were both big dreams of mine that I am so proud to have accomplished last year.

One of my favourite horse & rider shots I’ve taken to date

This is quite an old image of mine but it was fun to do and I still like it. A big thank you to stunning model MissDeadlyRed who let us put a tarantula on her face!!!
MissDeadlyRed: https://www.instagram.com/missdeadlyred/
Mad4Animals: https://www.instagram.com/mad4animalsuk/

I am a people and animal photographer and love to shoot with all kinds of animals.
All the animals I work with have been saved and are now safe with their owners and have a good life. The elephants live in a retirement home for former circus elephants. The fox was started as a puppy and could no longer be released into the wild and is tame.

The Tears of Destiny
The new weeks theme Animal Kingdom is so wonderful! Because I love it to photoshoot with animals, especially with all kinds of owls and birds of prey. 💕 These are so beautiful animals and I’m every time so thankful that I can work with these amazing birds. 🦉

Animals can be unpredictable and difficult to shoot, but when you get it right, you get it right. I think I got three usable shots from this shoot 😂
Here’s some of my favorite shoots with real animals. Photography by myself at WinterWolf Studios.
Image 2 – Bird provided by Ohio Falconry, model Megan Rice, wardrobe by Eidolon Couture, headpiece by Lory Sun Artistry

Female Warrior and White Horse

I’ve missed out on some amazing challenges, but am so glad to partake in this one! Here’s my favorite image of my little handsome dude Ritual taken a few years ago. I had 4 assistants in this one particular shot and it took quite some time to set up and get him to stay on the cello.
Thank you everyone for your submissions!
To join this week’s challenge and for a chance to get featured yourself –
join the groups, read the rules, and share away 🙂