Professional photographers obviously take their work very seriously indeed, attacking assignments with energy, enthusiasm and drive. The reward is pride and satisfaction when all the elements come together to create a stunning image. A photographer may feel pleased at possessing the ability to achieve technical perfection and capture sport at the height of action,  or may be driven to bring serious images of war, famine and earthquakes, to a wider public.

But it’s sometimes hard to accept that the most popular pictures are sometimes the most trivial, often epitomized by animal pictures that rely on novelty value.  However, we understand why the cute picture is popular because we ourselves enjoy looking at them.  It’s frightening,  give a photographer with a good eye half a chance to photograph an animal and he/she will produce a thing of beauty…

These photographs need no explanation, and are shown with their original captions.

Oui the frog sits on a miniature motorcycle in the eastern beach town of Pattaya January 10, 2008. Oui’s owner says Oui loves playing with human toys and posing for photographs.  By Sukree Sukplang

A toy poodle walks down the runway with a model during a dog fashion show at the New Year Dog Party held in Tokyo January 12, 2008. By Michael Caronna

Protestors mark the sixth anniversary of the first transfers of detainees to Guantanamo Bay with a demonstration outside the U.S. Consulate in Edinburgh, Scotland January 11, 2008.   By David Moir

A chicken looks out its cage at Ha Vy poultry wholesale market, 25 km (15 miles) south of Hanoi December 27, 2007. Bird flu killed a four-year-old boy from an ethnic minority group in northern Vietnam, the country’s first human case in nearly five months, a health official said on Thursday.  By Kham

A female grey seal pup is pictured on the German island of Helgoland January 11, 2008. A record number of 55 Atlantic grey seal babies have been born on Helgoland’s sandy shores this winter after last year’s just 32 births and 27 the year before, a responsible for environmental protection on the island says. Helgoland is located 70 km (44 miles) from the German coast line in the North Sea.   By Christian Charisius

Only Joking…