In October 2020, Lithuanian photographer Renatas Jakaitis was taking a walk in the forest when he had the opportunity to take a series of photographs that would later go viral on the internet. The object of his photography? A Three-Headed Deer.
This photo, named Three-Headed Deer, was taken by Renatas Jakaitis in Lithuania. The photo earned Jakaitis second place in the Animals in Their Environment category of the 2020 Windland Smith Rice International Awards.
In his words about this shot, “I think my camera shutter gave me away, as they quickly looked up when I started capturing them,” he said at the time. “I was lucky to get them all looking at the camera all at once before they disappeared, they all ran away when they saw me! They must have been camera shy.”
The photographer didn’t set out to capture the Three-Headed Deer, it was simply an optical illusion created by the position of the sun and the shadows. Nevertheless, it’s a surreal sight that has captured the attention of people all over the world.