Julian Rad is an Austrian wildlife photographer best known for intimate, eye-level portraits of small mammals: wild European hamsters holding daisies, red squirrels mid-leap, rabbits stretching up for berries. His pictures look effortless, almost staged, but they come from long hours waiting quietly in a hide and from a deep knowledge of how these animals live.
He first reached a wide audience in December 2015, when a photo of a wild hamster won the inaugural Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, chosen from more than 1,500 entries from 52 countries. Since then his feed has become a gallery of small creatures shown with real character. Here is a closer look at his approach, the animals he photographs, and what his work can teach anyone who wants to take better nature pictures.
A photographer of the small and overlooked
Rodents are easy to overlook. They are small, quick and often seen as pests, yet they make up about 40 percent of all mammal species, more than 2,000 in total. Rad’s photographs invert that view. By getting down to the animal’s level and filling the frame, he turns a hamster in a meadow or a squirrel on a branch into a portrait subject with its own expression and story.
In an interview with the nature site Earth Wonders, he described being fascinated by rodents since childhood, calling them clever animals that learn quickly and can solve surprisingly complex problems. Red squirrels, he said, are among his absolute favourites.
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One of the portraits Rad shared on his account in early 2021. Soft, out-of-focus backgrounds are a hallmark of his style, isolating the animal from its surroundings.
The award-winning hamster
The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards celebrate the funny side of animal behaviour. Rad’s winning image, a wild European hamster caught in a comical pose, took the top prize in that first edition. According to PetaPixel, his prize included a trophy, a seven-day safari in southern Tanzania and a Nikon D750 camera with a 24–85 mm lens.
The subject was a fitting choice. The European hamster is not the small golden pet many people imagine. It is a wild, guinea-pig-sized grassland animal, the largest living hamster species, with a brown back, a striking black belly and white patches on its face and sides. It digs deep burrows with separate chambers for sleeping and food storage, and it hibernates from about October to March.
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Rad returns again and again to the same species, learning their habits well enough to predict where and when a good picture is possible.
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Many of his best-known hamster portraits include the wild flowers that grow around the animals’ burrows, as in the cover image above.
Why the European hamster matters
Behind the cheerful images is a serious conservation story. In 2020 the International Union for Conservation of Nature listed the European hamster as critically endangered across its global range. Intensive farming, loss of grassland, roads that cut populations apart, light pollution and climate change have all played a part. In 2011 the EU’s top court even ruled that France had failed to protect the species adequately.
Austria is one of the places where people can still see these animals up close. A notable population lives in Vienna’s Central Cemetery, where hamsters live among the graves and lawns. Photographs that make people smile at a hamster can also help build support for protecting it.
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Photographs of animals in their own habitat remind viewers that many of these species are native wildlife, not pet-shop animals.
Red squirrels and other favourites
Red squirrels are the other stars of Rad’s portfolio. Found across Europe and northern Asia, they weigh only about 250 to 340 grams and grow their distinctive ear tufts with their thicker winter coat. They feed mainly on conifer seeds, nuts and fungi, and hide surplus food in caches to see them through lean months. While they remain widespread and listed as least concern globally, they have declined sharply in Britain, largely because of competition from introduced grey squirrels and a virus the greys carry.
His work has also featured other small mammals, including rabbits, which are often mistaken for rodents. Rabbits and hares actually belong to a separate order, the lagomorphs, which have an extra pair of upper incisors. Like rodents, though, they reward the same patient, low-angle approach.
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Rad’s typical recipe is a low camera position, shallow depth of field and an animal caught in a moment of natural behaviour.
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Seasonal changes in fur, light and plant life give him a fresh look at the same animals throughout the year.
Patience over equipment
Rad is clear that gear is not the secret. He has said that many people assume an expensive camera and lens will make them great photographers, but that “It’s not the camera which takes good images, it’s the photographer.” The camera, in his view, is simply a tool for capturing the picture you already have in mind.
His method relies on fieldcraft. He spends long stretches inside a photo hide so animals can go about their lives without noticing him, and his core lesson is simple: “Be patient and do not chase the animals, let them come to you.” He also describes nature photography as a kind of mental training. You need empathy, knowledge of the species, endurance and some luck, and you must accept that a whole session may end without a single frame you are happy with.
For him, time outdoors is also a break from stress and everyday hurry, a chance to slow down and feel close to nature.
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Pictures like this depend on waiting for the animal to settle naturally rather than approaching it.
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Eye-level framing and clean backgrounds are two of the details that make his portraits feel personal.
Tips for photographing small wildlife
You do not need to travel far to try Rad’s approach. Parks, gardens and woodland edges are full of small mammals. A few principles drawn from his work and general good practice:
- Get low. Shooting at the animal’s eye level makes the image feel intimate and gives a softer background.
- Use a hide or stay still. A simple pop-up hide, or even sitting quietly in the same spot every day, lets animals get used to you.
- Learn the species. Knowing feeding times, favourite routes and seasonal habits tells you where to wait.
- Keep your distance. A longer lens lets you fill the frame without disturbing the animal.
- Respect protected species. Never dig at burrows or handle wild animals, and check local rules where rare species such as the European hamster live.
- Accept empty days. Coming home without the shot is part of the process, not a failure.
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Natural perches such as branches, stumps and mossy rocks often give his pictures a sense of place.
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His work shows how much personality small animals reveal when they are not disturbed.
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Another post from his account.
Where to follow his work
Rad continues to post new images on his Instagram, where most of the photos above first appeared. For more photography of small animals, see the related articles below.
Sources: PetaPixel: Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards winners (2015); DIY Photography: Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards winners (2015); Wikipedia: European hamster; Wikipedia: Red squirrel; Wikipedia: Rodent. Photographs: Julian Rad (@julianradwildlife); interview first published by Earth Wonders.
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