Zoo Animals Summer 2024
I love taking photos of animals. Especially the exotic species at the zoo. There are so many creatures that a guy like me would never get to see without the zoo. My wife and I decided to take our son Oliver to the zoo that we live by for a family outing.
It was cute because I was bringing my camera, and Oliver brought a little digital camera. Throughout the trip it was lots of fun to take pictures side by side with him.
Our first stop was the penguins. They are near the front of the zoo, and they also are our family’s favorite. The penguins seemed hot that day, but we were still able to get a nice photo of them waiting for feeding time.
Next we walked by some of the tropical birds. One of my neighbors growing up had a parrot, and I’ve always liked them.
It made me very happy then when the blue macaw was friendly and didn’t mind getting their picture taken. The other birds were shy, but this one came right up to the front of the cage and let me take a lot of photos of them. I loved the different shades of blue that were coming from their feathers. This was one of my favorite pictures of the trip.
As I mentioned before, it was a hot day at the zoo, and the lions were clearly pooped from the heat. But usually they aren’t out in the open, so I was happy to be able to see them clearly this time.
The lioness was laying on the ground right in front of us. I had to lean over and poke my camera lens between the bars to get this photo. I’m glad they were feeling relaxed.
Another big cat that I usually don’t get to see is the tiger. The living area for the tiger at this zoo is very big with lots of spots where the tiger can be alone. So it’s rare to see it out in the open.
But there they were that day. Regally sitting in the back of the pen. I actually had to zoom in my photo to get close enough, but luckily it was high enough resolution to maintain the details. They were kind enough to hold still long enough for me to get this photo.
The zebras were out in full force when we passed by them. But shortly after we got there they started going back to their shelter. But on the way I snapped this photo of one looking back at me.
This is probably my favorite photo of the trip, which is funny because it was so easy to take.
This is a fennec fox. It was very cute sleeping on it’s little platform. It’s funny because in the moment I didn’t see the reddish-orange in its fur, but when editing the photo after it really popped out.
This quickly became my lockscreen wallpaper on my phone.
The hard thing about taking photos of flamingos is that they get washed out super easily, but this day, the shade made them too dark as well. Which is funny because I usually try to take pictures of my subjects in the shade because it’s a lot easier to bring up the lighting than to darken washed out colors. So I tried to compromise and get a picture of a flamingo half in and half out. Then I was able to find a happy medium when editing.
While trying to take photos of the flamingos, this peacock was making a show of himself. Calling out and strutting around trying to be the center of attention. I couldn’t resist taking a photo.
Funny enough, I’m pretty sure I had a math book that looked identical to this photo when I was in high school.
The final area of the zoo before going home was the monkey house. There were a lot of people there, so I only was able to get a few pictures that I was satisfied with. This monkey, though, was just sitting by himself munching on some grass. Everyone else were more interested in the other more active monkeys, but I could see myself in this monkey just trying to enjoy his lunch by himself haha.
My final photo subject of the trip was this little monkey. I believe it is called a tamarin. It was hopping all over the place, but I managed to get this action shot before it leapt away.
All in all, it was a very fun trip to the zoo. It was good family time, and lots of great photos. I’m impressed with how clear the pictures came out as most of these were actually taken through glass.
It’s also so fun to share a hobby with my son that we both can enjoy. My wife showed me pictures afterward on her phone of me and Oliver both standing with our cameras snapping pictures. I hope we can always share this bond.