Just outside of Bryce National Park in Utah is the Red Canyon. This shot was taken just after the rock was washed down with a quick rain shower.
And late in the afternoon I did a quick run into Zion National park where I’ll be spending the day hiking tomorrow. Then on Tuesday morning I have an appointment in Page Arizona with a tribal guide who will be taking me into probably the most famous slot canyon in the States. I’ve scheduled a 2 hour photo tour (limited to 2 hours) and then will hit the road for a 7 hour drive back home.
I ended up working in southern Utah over the weekend so I’m just moving my weekend to Monday and Tuesday.
Speaking of finishing in the wild, this afternoon I finished my 17th climb of the mountain in our back yard and was able to enjoy a festival of wildflowers.
But that will have to wait till tomorrow as I’m going to continue trying to learn some more CSS tonight so I can get on with my website overhaul, sooner hopefully, rather than later.
The queen has moved off of her perch while the king continues to chill.
I always look for the play of light and shadow, sometimes it all comes together.
Leaving the lion kingdom I headed on over to the tiger overlook and it was there that I was able to place my monopod just so it was shooting over the fence and standing on my tip toes I was able to compose the shots in the viewfinder. These are Sumatran tigers, smaller than the mainland tigers and comes from the islands of the South Pacific.
In this area I saw three cubs along with their mother.
And cubs, love to play.
At the San Diego Wild Animal Park…
Where the expanses really are open and just about everything I shot was with the equivalent of a 600mm telephoto lens.
Generally, there were not that many fences in the way, but you had to wait in a long line to get a ride around half of the park and occasionally there were fence obstructions that kept me working on my tiptoes just to position the lens over the edge of the rails.
While waiting in line for the “tram” to take me through the park the king of the jungle climbed up on an abandoned Range Rover that has had its roof reinforced since it’s a favorite resting spot for both the king and the queen.
The park tram seats 4 across and I was able to position myself into a seat on the side so that I had a good position for anything that would be on the right side of the tram. For the left, I had to rely on the telephoto.
While the focus is a bit off on the head, I like the the basic effect for this, so I’m including it. It was very hard to compose shots from the tram when it stopped for just a moment, frequently with some obstruction or another between me and the animals. The park offers a special three hour photo safari for an additional 150 bucks, but I was happy with my shots from just my 35 dollar ticket. The safari gets quite up close and personal and even lets you feed the giraffes, but quite frankly, driving up to a sleeping gazelle or rhino did not seem all that attractive. For me, the “prime shots” were of the really wild animals and there is no driving up to the lions and feeding them, unless of course you go back in time and visit Rome.
Just after the tram shot, the cheetahs were fed and I took this one after disembarking from the tram and walking over to the other side of the exhibit. Note how well this animal blends into the background.
A shoebill, lives in African swamps. I sat and waited for several minutes before I was able to get a profile. Sometimes you have to stare at the back of a head for a long time, and even then you are never assured the bird will turn.
Because this guy was able to fly around the zoo at will, I suspect that it was perhaps a freeloader and not part of the actual exhibits. Two of them would chase each other for a while and then alight in the trees above one of the bird exhibits.
Shooting at the SD zoo actually presents quite a few challenges, mostly because of fences and mesh screens and the like between you and the animals. Additionally some of the exhibits are mostly behind glass, as was this one. For the ability to get up close and personal with tigers and polar bears, I’d rate the Detroit Zoo much better than San Diego.
If you look closely at the right edge of this image you can make out the outline of the chain link fence through which this photo was taken. Using the right settings I was able to find a spot that worked for this face-on shot.
In San Diego – I’ll post over several days because I’m on the run again tomorrow to Phoenix.
Some of these will go into a gallery of photos we will create for one of the bedrooms.
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