As a youngster fifteen years ago, I watched a soccer film sequence showing the German centre-forward Gerd Müller playing while at his athletic prime in the 1970's. It was awe-inspiring.
Müller was all alertness, speed and power of a kind rarely seen in modern human beings. I remember how Müller's ultra-fast reflexes enabled him to react before anyone else, how his immensely powerful legs propelled him far off the ground and high above his opponents, who were left dumbfounded as he soared to hit the ball with thunderous force, hammering it past the keeper before the other players could do anything to stop Müller from scoring one more of his countless goals.

When I visited my dear brother during the winter of 2005, my sister-in-law threw balls and acorns in the air for her cats to play with. Luckily I had my eight-frame-per-second ''machine gun'' up at full speed as the most alert one jumped. Then, in a split-second I remembered Müller's incredible speed and recognized the very same animal force. Once more I was deeply impressed by the sight. Needless to say, I was a happy photographer when it turned out that all this animal's intensity and nimbleness was captured and immemorialized, so here it is.