It is not often you voluntarily stick your face a few inches away from a highly poisonous snake. But sometimes you take a stranger’s word for it, trust him and his knowledge of snakes, and have faith in his handling of the snake and reaction time. At least I am not the man who’s got the poisonous Pope’s Viper wrapped around my neck!
I wish I could say that the idea of taking a closeup portrait of the snake was my idea, but in this case it was a request from the magazine. ‘No doubt they want me dead’ - I thought to myself as I found myself agreeing with great enthusiasm. The poisonous snake’s head juxtaposed, next to a closeup of Steve Ludwin could work for a great layout in the magazine. (Steve is the owner of the snakes; a vegan and animal lover, but also someone who has injected himself with snake venom for many years.) He has injected himself with so many types of snake venom that he has now offered himself to the medical world so they can create anti-venom. He even had an operation (whilst still conscious I may add) so they could take samples from his spine needed for the anti-venom.
Steve has been successful on the music scene too but now it seems that his passion is more aimed towards his reptiles and shows a great love and understanding for them. He handles them not only with confidence, but with great respect. His lack of fear is slightly disconcerting, but his confidence comes with a life time of experience and an ability to read and understand the reptiles.
