What a l’otter fun!
By Naoise Coogan
On Friday last visitors and residents of Kilkenny were treated to the rare sight of an otter frolicking in the River Nore.
This unusual sight provided much entertainment for those present and the otter appeared to play to the crowd that had lined John’s Bridge in the centre of the city, to watch the little fella’ play in the warm waters of the River Nore.
Kilkenny photographer Amanda Burke was lucky to find herself and her camera at the scene, in a case of being in the right place at the right time, and she snapped the playful pup while he emerged from the water.
“I had heard that a family of otters had come back to Kilkenny recently but getting a chance photo of them, in my mind, was something that ‘other photographers’ got. However, as I crossed Johns Bridge I noticed many people hanging over it and I wondered what they could be looking at. I would have walked on by until I heard the word ‘Otter’,” said photographer Amanda Burke who took the picture featured here.
“ I pushed into the crowd and spotted the otter on the bank below and suddenly remembered I had my camera in my hand,”
“I raced down, jumped over the wall and ran down to the railings at the bank and a lady said that the otter had gone back into the water and pointed out the bubbles on the surface. I quickly guessed an exposure and focused on the bubbles waiting to see if the otter would re-surface where I was focused. And not only did he resurface at exactly the right spot, but he smiled at the camera too,” said Amanda.
Amanda is director and tutor of the ‘Beginners in Photography’ course and ‘The Improvers Photography Course’. For more information go to www.amandaburkephotography.com