Two weeks ago I attended a Crisis Camp event at the Sunlight Foundation‘s offices. It was a bustling scene and a lot of projects were running at full steam. The photos I took there will be the topic of the next couple days.

A number of those images were used in conjunction with video featuring the audio of a report on American Public Media’s Marketplace program:

Yesterday’s post, about my squirrel picture on wikipedia leading to some beautiful original artwork in the Philippines, is actually not the only resurfacing of that image.

In December, I got an email from a woman in Australia (who somehow could pick out my specific squirrel picture from memory) about how she noticed it was on a local TV show. Apparently, an ABC show about zombies used my photo as part of the backstory behind the series, cleverly named ‘Zombies.’

The show is only viewable online from Australia (unfortunately, I think it has expired) and I was able to watch the first part of the episode.  According to Zombies, my furry friend was responsible for transferring the zombie brain-virus to humans in rural Kentucky, hastening the apocalypse.  Oops.

There is a surprisingly long story behind this simple coffee tumbler.  On June 25th, 2007 I took a trip down to the National Mall with my friend Sam.  I borrowed another friend’s Digital Rebel XTi and was eager to play around with it.  Fortunately, we stumbled on a perfect subject, a common grey eastern squirrel that endured close human proximity in hopes of getting some edible loot from the passing tourists.  I held my camera out at arms length and snapped as many pictures as I could.  I eventually added one of the images to wikipedia, sharing the rather comical fellow with the world.  The photo took on a life of its own (some of which I’ve touched on in a previous post).

Skip ahead to June of 2009.  Regina F. Silva, a graphic designer/illustrator in the Philippines, sends me an email asking to use the original squirrel photo as inspiration for a drawing.  Flattered and intrigued, I accept.

The shared appreciation for this entertaining creature and the tone of the Regina’s emails gave me confidence in the possibilities of this proposition.  Months later, after more friendly exchanges and a sneak peek at a draft, she launched the first item in a line of squirrel-related items.  She promised to send me the entire line of products and yesterday, I received the wonderful bounty.

I could not be more pleased with the results and I’d like to thank Miss Silva for her devotion to her beautiful designs and for letting me know about this project.  While we’re on opposite sides of the planet, it’s nice to know that there is someone else out there who wants to share humorous squirrel antics with the world.

When I excitedly opened the package from the Philippines I was touched by the note that Regina included with all the fruits of her labor (reproduced to the right).  Best of luck to you and may the squirrel products prosper!

Please check out her Etsy shop and website, both are filled with whimsical original work. I would also recommend checking out her recent blog post about how she took a leap of faith to follow her dream of becoming a graphic designer.