Tom Turkey 🦃

Some of you may recall, in one my Halloween themed posts, that there was a photographer looking to shoot for FH with a live turkey.  Turkey's are of course the wild live most connected with Thanksgiving.  It's a bit of a warped connection though....  Like snowmen and bunnies, the turkey is usually made to look cute and adorable, happy to be slaughtered for our Thanksgiving feast.


I like to honor the grand bird each year, and when I can, include images of a little gobbler retribution. (HERE:)  Don't get me wrong, I love turkey at Thanksgiving, and do eat meat, but far less that I used to.  I have no issue with eating meat, it's the way we treat the animals that sustain us that had me cut down.  I live in the country, so finding ethically raised birds and meat is fairly easy and inexpensive, but I know it can be time consuming and expensive for many.

Tofu

I've wanted to include a turkey, a live one, in my Thanksgiving day posts for awhile, but it was Tofu that really inspired me this year.  I don't know how many of you follow Wolfgang (Steve) on Instagram, but his feed is one of my favorites.  Some of you may  have met Wolfgang on television, promoting senior dog adoption, or promoting his book. (The One and Only Wolfgang: from pet Rescue to one Big Happy Family)


I've followed Wolfgang and his menagerie for years, and loved seeing Tofu the turkey join the family earlier this year.  Tofu made himself right at home, hanging with the dogs and strutting around as a proud member of the family.  That brings me to this year's turkey themed idea, an idea that unfortunately, never got fully cooked.


'I just picked up a turkey for a Thanksgiving-themed session on Tuesday. Hope I haven't gotten in over my head and it cooperates with the model.'


The best laid plans.... The photographer who rose to the challenge of shooting a hot naked male model with a live turkey was Tom Nakielski.  This shouldn't surprise any FH readers, in the past couple of years Tom has included baby chicks and an bunny rabbit in his Easter themed shoots. I thought Tom was going to head to a farm for the shoot, but nope, Tom wasn't going to the turkey, the turkey was coming to him.

Tom Turkey

'I picked up the turkey from a farmer that was 1 1/2 hours away. He put the turkey in a large bag with a hole cut out for its head to peek through and had his feet tied together so I could drive safely back.'

Sadly, the model had to cancel at the last minute, ironically, due to a health issue with a pet of his own.  Tom tried, wasn't able to find another model to shoot, and not wanting to keep the turkey caged up in his studio for too long, sought out a good home for the turkey.

Cynbel

'I found the person on Craig's list. His response on Craig's List was .."I will give your turkey a good home on my farm with my other turkeys. I won't eat him." I just needed to get the poor turkey out before the next session in the studio. Good to know the turkey has a good home. All in all, it was a unique experience.'

Always thinking creatively, when Tom was cleaning up the studio after the Turkey flew the coop, he saved many of the beautiful feathers that were left on the floor.  Although the turkey didn't get his 15 minutes of fame, Tom did find a way to include him.  While shooting Cynbel eating some Thanksgiving goodies, Tom added the feathers into a few of the shots.  Check out more of Tom's work with Cynbel in the post below.