This is Cliff. You unfortunately can’t see him in person anymore, but he was a handsome old man who really brought some majesty to the concrete forms of Denver Zoo’s Sheep Mountain.
Back when I got out of high school, I supported myself though photography and a jazz trio I ran. I did a fair amount of corporate headshots, environmental portraits, the occasional wedding for a friend of the family. I hadn’t yet rediscovered the magic of the zoological garden.
When I did about 18 months ago, I knew a lot less than I know now. It’s actually kind of amazing how much you can learn in that short of time by simply practicing over and over again, making mistakes and learning from them. At the time, I was very happy with this shot of ol’ Cliff. Now, yeah, there are things I’d do differently; I’ve got better equipment for the job that would have brought some more to the shot, I’d have probably stepped a bit more to my left and tried to catch some more highlight in that front eye. But this is one I don’t get to redo, and the portrait has some more magic for me because of it.
Here’s to you, Cliff. You are missed.
The Zootographer 