NIGHT ANIMALS Out Now!

Ivette Spradlin
2 days ago
1 min read

NIGHT ANIMALS

New zine published by Brown Owl Press

Long before domestic surveillance became commonplace, I used a finicky 35mm trail camera to photograph urban wildlife around my graduate school apartment in Philadelphia's Awbury Arboretum. I fell in love with the resulting images—capturing resilient city animals finding comfort in whatever natural spaces felt safe.

Caught!, Awbury Arboretum, Philadelphia, 2006

I eventually moved away, finding myself in spaces that didn't lend themselves to monitoring the natural world. Like most of my work, which relies heavily on the unique opportunities provided by my immediate surroundings, I waited until the time was right to revive the project. That moment came in 2021 when I relocated back to Georgia after twelve years in Pittsburgh. As a holiday gift, my brother gave me a digital trail camera. While the digital technology produces a different visual quality, it achieves what my film camera never could: infrared night captures without a high-powered, animal-startling flash.

Page layouts from Night Animals, 2026

Using the same process of selecting stills from video as my previous release, Sunshine State, these images document the secret, resilient lives of local wildlife. Designed by Al Palmer and published by Brown Owl Press, Night Animals is available on my website and the Brown Owl Press (UK) store.

NIGHT ANIMALS

Explore the hidden, nocturnal worlds of woodland creatures in this 32-page photographic zine. NIGHT ANIMALS transforms the pitch-black woods into an illuminated stage of wildlife behavior using infrared stills.