The Reptile Show has an amazing team of people that make our adventures possible and some very brave souls that follow Coyote into the nastiest, muddiest, spider and bug infested swamps. This past summer the team had the great fortune of meeting a few incredible nature photographers at The Columbus and Franklin County Metro Park's Blacklick Woods.
Karl Hassel, Fred Miller and Terry Peck embarked upon several adventures with the team to shoot photography during filming and were witness to some serious sized Snapping Turtles.
This post is dedicated to their marksmanship behind the lens. We would like to share with everyone a few great moments from this past summer that you didn't see through the eye of a Reptile camera.
Blacklick Wood's Ashton Pond, as we have reported before, is home to some true Swamp Monsters. In this scenario Coyote had to go neck deep to wrangle a 43 lb monster.
After the reptile was under control...the scenario took a bit of an amphibian twist when Coyote managed to nab a pretty good sized Bull Frog. So if you ever wanted to the know the answer to the question..."Is it possible to capture a reptile and an amphibian at the same time?" The answer is YES!
PS...Coyote is also treading water at this point and trying to control the beast without becoming its lunch.
The frog was let go and the segment with the beast was filmed as Coyote hoisted the creature from the abyss and gave the crew and photographers a good look at what was lurking beneath the surface. Bit of a precarious situation here...one little slip and it would have been curtains for Coyote.
Getting this 43lb Common Snapping Turtle out of the water and up onto the boardwalk was a tricky situation...filming this sequence was really difficult and camera operator Marsh Mud Man Mark Vins nearly was eaten in the process. No really...the turtle got up on the boards and went straight after the camera.
And there he is...43lbs of claws, jaws and pissed off attitude.
The other star of Blacklick Woods was the Legend of Ashton Pond himself...a 45 lb monster Snapper with a mug so ugly only a mother turtle could love it.
This picture gives you a good idea as to how close The Reptilian Enthusiast Gang gets to these dangerous turtles to get the up close shots. This is something we NEVER recommend you ever even think about doing!
You can probably imagine where this led too...the Snapping Turtle went right after the microphone...getting the microphone out of an angry Snapping Turtles jaws is not easy...trust us...we learned that the hard way.
Karl, Fred and Terry shot some great pics this past summer and we can't wait to work with them again this year. You can often times find their works in The Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks
ParkScope Magazine which is released quarterly around Columbus and can be picked up at any one of the metro parks. While shooting Snapping Turtles was relatively new to them...their artistic takes on Birds, Mammals and Landscapes are absolutely breathtaking. It was an honor to work with such a talented group of shooters and we can't wait to have the opportunity again in 2011!
Stay tuned for more great stuff from last summers expeditions...and get ready...warm weather is just around the corner...and with it will come REPTILES!
This...is
The REPTILE SHOW!
It's cold outside...and that means that all of the scale and slime covered beasts that we love to capture and appreciate are sleeping in a deep hibernation. The good thing about hibernation season is it allows us to do some much needed leg work to get ready for this summers production. 
Currently The Reptilian Enthusiast Gang is building its sponsorship team...the fantastically wonderful souls that have a worlds worth of faith and belief that our series is destined for amazing things. 
Choonimals has been on board with The Reptile Show since the original conception of the show in the summer of 2009 and to date...there is not a single turtle, snake, frog or skin cringing critter that has been captured or encountered without the presence of a Choonimals T-Shirt.
We look forward to continuing our relationship with Choonimals and we want to give a huge shout out to their amazing team, Chris, Matt, Chad, Alex and Drew! Your support means the world to us and we can't wait to muddy up some more of your designs this summer! 
