About Sublime Squirrel
Sublime Squirrel is run by Chelsea the squirrel charmer. All photos and videos are by her.
Mission
1. Spread smiles and happiness to the world with squirrels.
Why smiles and happiness?
If everybody was smiling and happy, there wouldn’t be wars.
If everybody was smiling and happy, you can be more kind to others.
If everybody was more kind to others, the world would be a better place to live.
Smiling is healthy.
Smiling attracts luck.
Smiling is all.
Squirrels have cute smiles. Their smiles can make you instantly happy as if baby smiles can. I believe in squirrel smiles and squirrel powers. They are tiny mighty critters. It’s been proven on my social media.
I've got lots of positive messages from all over the world:
Here are some examples of my favorite ones:
"My baby stopped crying and start laughing when I showed your video! Thank you!"
"Your photos and videos are visual vitamins!"
"I got a rough day but your video made me calm down. Thanks!"
2. Represent Squirrels
They are not only cute but also funny and intelligent. Each squirrel has a different personality as humans do. Therefore, each squirrel acts differently which is very fascinating and entertaining. People who know about squirrels know this but yet there are so many people who haven't realized how great they are. They can make you smile, laugh, educate, and relax. They deserve more attention.
My Animal Selfy/Youfy Collection
About Chelsea the squirrel charmer
About Chelsea
My friends describe me as an animal lover, fashionista and adventurer.
I grew up in Japan, lived in Australia for 3 years, and now live in Berkeley CA.
I am an artist and squirrel charmer. I previously worked as a photographer. My love for animals led me to photography business and photography led me to squirrels. Squirrels became my great subject since they are everywhere around here.
One day, in 2016, I captured a cute smiling squirrel, which was the first trigger to make me addicted to squirrels. I uploaded the photo on Instagram and got lots of positive reactions.
One of the earliest squirrel photos of mine.
I feel very lucky because squirrels show me such interesting actions every day. Even if you had a great gear, if squirrels didn’t do anything or even, if they didn’t show up, you wouldn’t be able to capture great moments.
I volunteered at an animal care service as a photographer, dog walker, and cat player. Because of the photo I took, the cat who had been at the shelter for months was able to find the home.
This is the cat and photo :) She has an injured eye and shy personality which made it difficult to find a home.
These positive experiences with my squirrel and non squirrel photos made me believe the power of a photo/video and social media.
I also love singing and dancing as I was in a Japanese rock band as a lead singer.
Traveling and food are my other interests too. I am a Google local guide to share my experiences.
I didn't think that I could make people happy especially with something I love. But I learned that a photo can make people happy and can change an animal's life. That made me create my mission: spreading smiles with squirrels. And this is very rewarding.
Why Am I Fond Of Squirrels So Much?
Why do you love dogs? :) I think the reason I love squirrels is similar to it. Adding to it, just thinking about that tiny brain is thinking hard and trying to express their feeling hard is touching.
But the biggest reason is that I can pet them and hand-feed them. As an animal lover, I enjoy just watching animals too but I instantly get happiest when I get to interact with them. The rarer the more makes me happy. This is who I am from my childhood. In Japan, where I'm from, squirrels were rare animals to see in my everyday life. I never thought that I could pet them since they are so tiny and fast.
Those lots of a little bit of daily interaction with squirrels made me addicted to them little by little but there is one of the biggest stories.
One day, I ran into a squirrel who’s missing her tail and left paw. It didn’t look like the injury was a recent thing. It was very shocking and at the same time, I got inspired.
Rabina the squirrel who’s missing her tail and left paw.
“Wow, she’s hanging in there! She’s amazing!”
I had to name her and named Rabina.
Living in the wild is tough. I can imagine how difficult it could be if you have a handicap. But she acted like nothing wrong. Her attitude gave me lots of power and courage. She taught me that squirrels are not only cute but also strong. I think this was the time I saw a squirrel’s new aspect.
Capturing a smiling squirrel photo made me pay attentions to their facial expressions and body languages. Until then, I thought that squirrels are just cute and fluffy. I didn’t think that they have such things like dogs. And I learned that they do have cute smiles and funny faces. I love their unique gestures to express that they want food. Some squirrels climb up on me :)
I've got scratched and bitten which made me bleeding because they have sharp claws and strong teeth. However, it hasn't stopped me from interacting with them like surfers don't stop surfing even if they got dump by water. It never makes me scared rather makes my day!
I’ve had lots of positive responses on my squirrel photos and videos like your photo made me smile etc on social media. This helped me to come to watch squirrels more closely as well. Some squirrels stood in front of me and stared at me for a while, some squirrels stamped their foot, and some squirrels followed me…so many surprising things have happened. By facing those reactions every day made me giggled and made me think about what they were thinking. In this way, my interests in squirrels more and more increased. Every time I met a squirrel, I thought of what they wanted to say.
One day, it hit me that I can communicate with squirrels. This discovery was a big thing because I care about connection/bond/rapport. I get very happy when I feel connected. Especially with living things that I would never imagine I could. I thought squirrels were one of the critters I could never understand each other since they are so tiny. One of the most interesting things was to have found out that they have a personality. Each squirrel has a different personality thus each squirrel has a different reaction (facial expression and body language) which was surprising and fascinating.
Their facial expression, body language, paws, fluffy tails, the way they eat…I admire their every single thing. I love their smiles. They look so happy when they eat. Also, I love it when they grab food with their tiny little paws. We don't speak the same language, but we understand each other which is beautiful.
Squirrels have changed my life. I now can pay attention to tiny things/details more which is great because I've come more sensitive about everything. I can appreciate nature, weather, kindness, bond, etc and get happy easily.
I forget to eat when I'm with squirrels even though eating is always my first priority. This is how much I love them :)
They show me different faces every day. Seeing them every day brightens my day, make my more creative and brings me so much happiness. Squirrels are my tiniest friends.