Golden Eagle in Medroom by Annie Marie Musselman

As I reviewed the latest batch of Hey, Hot Shot! contenders, this image by Annie Marie Musselman stopped me in my tracks. It's from her series Finding Trust, about which she writes:

Looking for truth after my mother passed away in 2002 I found the Sarvey Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Located in the foothills of the beautiful Cascade mountains, it's a place where injured, wild creatures come to finish their journeys or start new ones, where I've seen love, trust and intuition that equals that of a mother and child, a home where a few humans have come together to save the lives of many precious creatures.

Annie's series made me think of other striking animal portraits in recent memory, with Jill Greenberg's (aka The Manipulator) monkeys and bears foremost in my mind. Greenberg's well-known work is fantastic, but she presents her animal subjects as spectacles.

Worried, 2005, from the series Monkey Portraits by Jill Greenberg

Like much animal photography, Greenberg's work feels voyeuristic, as if I were peering through the bars of a (very clean) zoo. What appeals to me about Finding Trust is how candid and yet subtle the images are. Perhaps it's the palpable closeness between Annie and the animals she cares for that closes this gap of perception and emotion. Instead of feeling like I am watching from afar, her photographs give me the sensation of being with the animal in that exact point in space and time.

Fawn Looking Out Window by Annie Marie Musselman

Once drawn in, I feel the intense vulnerability and urgency of the moment. As Annie writes:

There is limited time for pictures during moments of crisis, constant worry over sick and dying animals, but all the while looking for moments to shoot the beauty around me. The more I am with these creatures, the more I see their inner beauty and intelligence and the more frustrated I become by humanity's neglect of nature. I believe the wild creatures among us embody the instinct and love we have lost, and with this I realize the purpose of my work.

I am reminded of something 2009 First Edition HHS! contender Sam Falls said in an interview. Though he wasn't talking about animals specifically, these words still resonate: "The pieces I always return to and can look at over and over in a museum's permanent collection are works that make me feel and not think, where there's no pedagogy but just empathy."