Have you ever seen a tarantula from underneath? Or a scorpion? A mouse whose tiny tactile pads are so clearly visible that you can count every single bump?
I had all of that on my glass plate last year - and I have to tell you honestly: I am enchanted every time. My surname is Löwe (Lion), my specialty is dogs from underneath, but quietly something else is growing. A collection. A journey through biodiversity. And I think it's time to tell you about it.
From the three-legged hedgehog in June 2023 until today, over 50 different animal species have had their big appearance in front of my lens - and that is just the beginning. Some well-known, some surprising, some so small that my lens almost went on strike. What unites them all: a perspective that even biology textbooks hardly show.
In this article I will take you with me. We start right at the beginning.
Where it all began – a three-legged hedgehog
My very first exotic animal – a hedgehog from the Stachelnasen Zwickauer Land. Without him this journey would never have started.
In June 2023, the first hedgehog was on my glass plate. If you look closely, you can see that he is missing a hind leg. He was found as an injured wild animal, the leg could not be saved. Today he is well cared for by the lovely people of the Stachelnasen Zwickauer Land - an association that takes care of injured hedgehogs with great dedication. He was operated on by the lovely Nicole Schreiter from the Tiergesundheitszentrum Lichtenau, a veterinarian with whom I have had a wonderful friendship for years.
Actually, I had only asked Nicole if she knew any exciting dogs in her clientele. Her answer: "A hedgehog from underneath would certainly be cool too." She immediately contacted Angela from the Stachelnasen - and the rest, as they say, is history.
What did I think when I looked at my screen back then? "Oh. Nobody has ever seen that before." That was the moment I realized: A whole world is opening up here.
What I see in these pictures
Dogs from underneath are funny. Cute. Sometimes hilarious. With dogs, it's about character, about interaction, about that one cheeky look with which they stand on the glass plate as if it had always been that way.
With exotic animals it is different. It is much more about education and documentation.
In documentaries, in textbooks, in school lessons - animals are almost always shown to us from the front, from the side or from diagonally above. Almost never from underneath. And I ask myself: Why actually? Because anatomically there is an incredible amount to discover down there. The legs, the feet, the gripping tools, the joint constructions - nature has come up with things that engineers are still chewing on today.
I have always found biology exciting. And suddenly I can share this fascination with other people, simply by setting up a glass plate and saying: Look here.
Three encounters I will never forget
1. The scorpion that revealed itself as a male
Large Asian scorpion from underneath - the comb-like structure in the middle is worth its weight in gold for sex determination.
At the ANIMAL in Stuttgart in 2025 I met the people from the Vogelspinnen IG Esslingen. A few hours later they were standing at my stand with a large Asian scorpion in their hands. "We could just take that with us quickly."
I had not expected what happened next. As soon as the scorpion was on the glass plate and the first picture appeared on the screen, one of the owners said: "Aaaah, now we can see it exactly - that is a male!"
Me: "How, by what?"
"By the comb in the middle. You can only see that from underneath."
I stood there, just learning scorpion anatomy, and at the same time I had probably taken one of the few studio pictures in Germany in which a male Asian scorpion is clearly recognizable as such. It is exactly for such moments that I do this job.
2. Pigeons at the set table
The unusual couple from Graue Kobolde Taubenhilfe: a Takla pigeon and a city pigeon, together at the set table.
At a trade fair in Emden I met the lovely Anni from Graue Kobolde – Taubenhilfe mit Herz e.V. She brought me two of her protégés - an extraordinary couple: a Takla pigeon and a city pigeon, who are inseparable in real life. Suddenly the two of them were standing together on a glass plate, probably wondering what the heck was going on here.
Pigeons, like many bird species, are not anatomically built to simply look down. What to do? We bribed them. With food, spread out like a set table, right in the middle of the glass plate. The result: two pigeons dining peacefully next to each other, not bringing each other out of calm in the slightest - and thus making the photo possible. It is one of my favorite pictures for a "we belong together" feeling in the animal kingdom.
At the Tierschutzverein Mainz and their Kleintierhaus the same trick worked wonderfully with the chickens. They found the table very inviting. A Muscovy duck, who was also there, remained stoically unmoved - she was allowed to go her way again, with dignity and preserved pride.
3. The chameleon and the flying Zophoba
My favorite snapshot so far: Yemen chameleon in the moment it catches a Zophoba. With kind permission of Helena Spindler from gesundepfoten.com.
If I had to pick one picture from all of them that tells about my work, it would be this one.
I was a guest at Helena Spindler from gesundepfoten.com in Hochheim am Main in April 2026. We had a Yemen chameleon in front of the lens and - my secret favorite moment - we waited specifically for it to snap one of the Zophoba larvae.
When the shutter was released, I knew immediately: this is it. Anatomy of the tongue in full resolution, the full action drama, the focus exactly in the right thousandth of a second. Normally, as a human being, you don't get that close to a hunting instinct that has been working for millions of years.
The little miracles – When the animal is smaller than the lens
With small animals, little changes technically - the glass plate remains the same, the light remains the same. I just zoom in closer.
Millipedes. Stick insects. Panda isopods. Madagascar hissing cockroaches. When I photograph such animals, surprisingly little changes in the setup: same glass plate, same light, same patience. I just zoom in closer with the lens. That's it.
With an isopod recently, however, I reached my limit. It was simply too small for my current technical status. But - and that is my favorite thing about this job - I am already working on it. In the future, mini-models should also fit in front of my lens. There is still a whole world out there that I have not yet been able to photograph.
Mice have bumps
Six tiny tactile pads per paw - the mouse feet of the Falknerei Feldberg were a real aha lesson.
At the Falknerei Feldberg (also to be found on Instagram) I recently had mice and rats on the glass plate. What I discovered there, I had never really noticed before: The small bumps on the mouse feet.
These are not random shapes. These are tactile pads - six tiny, highly sensitive pads per paw. Two larger ones on the outer edges, four smaller ones between the toes. They are full of mechanoreceptors and help mice to feel the smallest vibrations, to grip precisely and to climb on smooth surfaces. What the fingertips do for us humans, these mini-cushions do for mice.
It is exactly for such aha moments that I love this work. Without the glass plate I would probably never have consciously seen these bumps - and neither would you now.
Animal welfare is the red line
I would like to state one thing very clearly, because this topic often reaches me: With me, animal welfare always comes first. Before every picture, before every order, before every beautiful snapshot.
What that means in concrete terms:
- ♥ The animals always come with their humans. I do not position and treat exotic animals myself - that is done by their owners, keepers or breeders. These people know their animal, know what it can tolerate, and know when enough is enough.
- ♥ The shoots are short. With exotic animals often only a few seconds. On the glass plate, picture taken, animal down again.
- ♥ Flash light is harmless. I have had this clarified many times, and I have also written a detailed blog article about flash light and epilepsy.
- ♥ I stop if an animal is stressed. Period. If I notice that an animal really doesn't want to, and the owner simply accepts that cheaply - then the shoot is over. There is no picture in the world that would be worth tormenting an animal.
In the Reptilium Landau, the largest reptile zoo in Germany, where I was a guest at the beginning of the year, we worked in exactly the same way: only animals that are tame and have no problem with an unfamiliar environment outside their terrarium. All the others stayed where they were. And rightly so.
A huge thank you
Without these people and associations this article would not exist. They opened doors for me, entrusted me with their animals, shared their expertise - and understood my enthusiasm.
- Stachelnasen Zwickauer Land – my first hedgehog and the beginning of everything
- Tiergesundheitszentrum Lichtenau (Nicole Schreiter) – because of her this has come about at all
- Vogelspinnen IG Esslingen – scorpions, tarantulas and much more
- Graue Kobolde – Taubenhilfe mit Herz e.V. – pigeons with style
- Tierschutzverein Mainz und Umgebung e.V. und das Kleintierhaus – chickens and more
- Helena Spindler – gesundepfoten.com – chameleon and the best snapshot of my work so far
- Falknerei Feldberg (Instagram) – the mice with the bumps
- Reptilium Landau – reptile wealth with understanding
- Franzi von Nihons Legend
- Tierpark Nymphaea
- Sandra und DeDe von Haylee und Buma
- Tränkler's Rollender Zoo
If you belong to this list yourself and I have forgotten you - write to me, I will add it immediately. I am so grateful to every single person who has made this journey with me.
What's next: My studio in Dresden Nickern
Something beautiful is currently being built: A permanent photo studio in Dresden Nickern.
At every trade fair I have heard the same question for years: "Sandy, are you coming to our area sometime? Or can we just come to you in Dresden?" Until now I always had to decline. That is over now.
Dresden is a beautiful city - the Elbe meadows, the heath, the Saxon Switzerland right on the doorstep. Many people combine their visit with a long weekend or a short holiday anyway. Why not add a photo shoot?
The studio is theoretically already usable. I am currently furnishing it nicely. The official opening will be in July 2026 - but I am already accepting appointments by arrangement. (Provided I am not standing somewhere between Bologna and Rostock at a trade fair.)
My bucket list of the next animals
What is coming is always the most exciting. Here is my very personal wish list of exotic and special animals that I absolutely want to photograph from underneath:
- 🐾 A lion. My surname is Löwe (Lion) - that is practically a must. And lions have been my favorite animals for as long as I can remember.
- 🐾 A lynx. My favorite native animal. So beautiful, so shy, so fascinatingly built.
- 🐾 A white goose. Proud, elegant, with personality. I want one.
- 🐾 A penguin. Those feet. That belly area. The thought alone!
- 🐾 An alpaca. Because: Alpaca.
- 🐾 Meerkats and kangaroos. Done.
These are just the obvious ones. In fact, I now see animals with completely different eyes - I immediately see in every animal what it would look like from underneath. Dachshund, sheep, goat, eagle, trout, amphibian... My goal is to eventually photograph all animals from underneath. Let's see how far I get.
Do you have a special animal?
If you are reading this now and thinking "She absolutely has to see my animal" - then get in touch. Really.
I am continuously looking for new animal species and breeds. Whether private owner, breeder, rescue station or animal park: Please write to me via my contact form. Briefly describe what kind of animal you have and where you are located.
Important - so that it works out well for everyone:
- ✓ Your animal must be able to leave its familiar environment without causing stress.
- ✓ You as the owner decide about the animal, never me.
- ✓ If you doubt whether your animal can tolerate it: rather say no. I respect that 100%.
And for all those who have been waiting for an appointment for a long time and are near Dresden: The studio in Nickern is waiting. Write to me, we will find an appointment.
One last thing
What really carries me in this job is not the technology. Not the equipment. Not even the pictures themselves.
It is the smile in people's eyes that I see again every time their animal appears on the screen. I am allowed to bring back a childish fascination that many adults have misplaced somewhere. Those eyes with which we used to crouch in front of a butterfly. In front of an earthworm. In front of a snail. Just looked, just marveled.
If I can bring back even a spark of that with my pictures, then all the effort was worth it. And I have the most beautiful job in the world.
See you soon somewhere between Hall 4, a falconry and a studio in Dresden,
your Sandy