Over on the instagram, I shared a picture from my trip to the Riverside Discovery Center in Scottsbluff of their Amur Tiger. It was a beautiful shot that made me utterly lament that I still hadn’t gotten one quite as good of my tigers at home at the Denver Zoo. Well last weekend, I tookContinue reading “Yuri! Yuri! Yuri!”
Tag Archives: 400mm
The First Shot is Always the Best
Buy a print. If you’ve been shooting photos for even a brief amount of time, you probably remember the joy of seeing your first shot. Maybe you got a new DSLR or new lens and you remember the joy of the first shot you took with that new bit of equipment. Maybe you met aContinue reading “The First Shot is Always the Best”
Knowing What to Expect
One of the first animals you might happen upon when entering Scottsbluff’s Riverside Discovery Center is this beautiful bobcat. Like all cats, every bobcat has their own personality, and on the day I visited this one wanted nothing but attention. It saw me coming, jumped from its perch, and came to rub up on theContinue reading “Knowing What to Expect”
This one’s For Cliff
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 fairContinue reading “This one’s For Cliff”
Nap Time
The days that most people consider to be good weather days for the zoo are not good days for photographing. The number of clouds in the sky and the amount of contrasty bad light are inversely proportional. There are a couple ways to work with it, though. Look for spots where you can turn thatContinue reading “Nap Time”
A Red-Capped Portrait
I’ve labeled myself a zoological portraiturist. It’s a term I made up. It’s like when Toyota tells you their SUV is best-in-class: they made up the class, so it’s definitely the best. I’m the only zoological portraiturist, so I’m the best there is. That works, right? Okay, yeah, probably not. Because as much as weContinue reading “A Red-Capped Portrait”
Flies in Flight
Sometimes you get lucky. This shot can’t be reproduced. You could sit with Denver’s male Steller’s Sea Eagle for a year, snapping a hundred photos a day, and still not get something in this vein. I’m not sure whether or not the eagle sees what is in front of him. I assume their senses areContinue reading “Flies in Flight”
A Lengthy Portrait
The 2×3 format of most modern digital cameras is awesome for landscape photos. For portraits, it’s a little long on the long side. Unless, of course, you’re working with something like a Giraffe or this Sarus Crane. In that case, a little length goes a long way.
Not Meerly a Kat.
Meerkat is a weird word etymologically speaking. Anything else I would have to say would be meerly (ha!) copying the Wikipedia Etymology entry. Besides that, I just like this portrait.
It’s a Jungle Sometimes it Makes me Wonder
My usual goal in zoological portraiture is to try to keep the environment in the photo looking as close to the animal’s natural habitat as possible. And unless you’re in some sort of post-apocalyptic movie, an urban center is not where most of these guys live. Still, sometimes the “zoo” shot is the one youContinue reading “It’s a Jungle Sometimes it Makes me Wonder”
The Zootographer 