“Fancy Rats”: A Collection Of Domestic Rats Portraits By Diane Ozdamar

These adorable rat portraits were taken by a committed photographer who’s made it her mission to remove the stigma attached to the creatures. Diane Ozdamar’s vibrant images feature rodents cutely cuddling flowers, eating fruit, playing with bubbles, and lovingly interacting with each other.

The 32-year-old photographer, who lives in Montreal, Canada, shot her “Fancy Rats” series over a number of years. The idea stemmed from fostering abused and abandoned rats in the hope of finding them new homes, Diane said, as in order to get them adopted, the photographer had to shoot cute pictures to make them more appealing to wannabe pet owners.

Diane said: “That was how I began taking pictures of them, and I tried to take the best images I could to properly show their personalities. Each rat is quite different – they may be small but they really have huge personalities. These pictures played a great role in finding these rats their forever home and also helped some people overcome their phobia, so I decided to carry on and keep working on the series”.

Through her images, Diane hopes to showcase the positive characteristics of rats – especially pet rats – which, she said, are “mellow and playful little creatures”. The photographer believes that the negative impressions pinned to rats stem from their wild siblings; Diane, however, focuses purely on domestic rats.

More info: Diane Ozdamar, Behance, Facebook