Most zoos these days have some sort of behind the scenes experience. Denver Zoo calls them Up-Close Encounters. Of the 13 they offer, I’ve done nine at this point. They’re all good; they’re all absolutely worth doing. But there are two that I recommend above all others: The Flamingo encounter, and the Elephant encounter.
At the end of the behind the scenes tour and opportunity to hand-feed one of the boys, you’re taken to a spot in between two of the elephant yards. It’s a spot frequently used for training, so the boys know that if there are people there, they’ve got treats on the way. It’s an incredible opportunity to get really close to these guys.
One of the visitors was Groucho – the largest animal in Colorado. The first time I met Groucho, he destroyed an entire tree that was just outside his habitat because he felt like it. He eats 130 pounds of grass hay a day and will pound it down in one sitting if allowed to do so. But in this instance, he and I just got to look at each other.
Elephants are very difficult animals to take a good picture of at the zoo. With their size, you almost have to include the environment. And as much as I love the zoo, the zoo environment is not always the magical one you want for a picture. So with my 400mm lens (600mm effective length on the crop sensor Pentax k-50), I decided to get right up and personal with my magnificent friend. With that focal length at that relatively short distance, the background melted into a buttery field of green, and all the focus went right on to that beautiful eye and those incredible eyelashes.
The Zootographer 