Playful squirrels: through the lens of Sienna Anderson

Sienna Anderson on squirrels

The cute little red squirrels that visit photographer Sienna Eve Anderson’s garden are to be the stars of a children’s story, ‘Be Kind’, to be published in the autumn.

“The squirrels were already visiting the garden,” explains Sienna. “I decided to put a few props out for them. It’s important to keep as still as possible whilst the squirrels are around. “It was my love of photography and nature that inspired me. I posted a few images and people were just loving them; it went from there. “A very kind lady said she had a large bag of hazelnuts from a tree in her garden and would I like them? “I went out into the garden with a basket of the hazelnuts and the squirrels went mad for them. “The first prop I used was an old toy Tonka truck. I put a hazelnut on it; the squirrel happily picked it up and sat there quietly nibbling away. “Initially I used items I had at home, and then people offered me more unique props to use. “I like to keep it as simple as possible. My favourite squirrel picture is the one where he looks like he has a frown. If he gets wet, it accentuates it. I call him Little Red. “There are two darker ones, and one has a white stripe on his tail, and I call him Gizmo. He’s really confident and was the

first one to climb my leg whilst I was taking photos. “I believe there are about eight or nine of them and they are most active at first light. “It was just over one evening that I started putting the words to each image. It felt so right and a natural continuation. I asked for publishing advice on social media and was approached by a publisher a few days later. “The book is about being kind, and it has gentle references to looking after the environment, nature, also of self-worth and belief. It’s the sort of book a parent would read to a small child, it is fun and interactive.”

Sienna shot these photographs on her Sony A7Riii and more of her work can be seen at siennnaeva on Insta or Sienna Eve Anderson on Facebook, where news on the book will be posted. To see the squirrels trying to steal hazelnuts from Sienna’s pocket go to our Facebook page: Facebook.com/ StyleOfWight