Took the opportunity this past weekend to spend some time at the Ft Worth Zoo. It’s easily one of my favorite places (top 5 zoo in the nation) and things to do. You always see something that you’ve never seen before (sometimes it’s the people, but still), and I always have a great time. Doesn’t hurt that you couldn’t ask for a much nicer day.

As I was looking back at some of the photos I took, I realized that most of the good shots ended up being closer in on the subject, so I decided to focus on those and see what kind of collection I could piece together. I’ve got plenty more than the photos you see here, but these were my favorites. I ended up with a pretty interesting series of portraits with a variety of animals and situations.

The elephants were out in full force and it was awesome. They’ve got two babies right now that both seem to love to play and run around with their parents. Seeing the interaction between the two was really cool. Not to mention the overwhelming size of these creatures is a wonder in itself. The sun was in just the right spot it while we were there. I was getting some really good highlights off their coarse skin.

I got super lucky here with this lion. As we walked around the corner there was a mass of people watching them sunbathe. I worked up into a spot just to the right of where she was laying and could anchor my elbows on the rail. Right about when I got focused, she looked right at me. It was a super cool moment. Felt like she knew exactly what I was doing. I got off a bunch of shots before I decided to let somebody else into my spot so they could see. The other lion was laying by the rocks and blended in too well to get anything good.

These penguins were cracking me up. The inside exhibit was closed for maintenance, so all of them were outside. Probably 25ish birds waddling around and swimming over towards the poor trainer who happened to be in there power washing all the penguin shit off the rocks. It seemed like they were all super pissed that they were outside, even though it was probably only 85 degrees at the time. I was able to snap a shot of this guy, who seemed to be the most pissed of them all. I feel ya, bro.

*Canon EOS REBEL T3i*; *EF75-300mm f/4-5.6; 1/800 sec; f/5.6; ISO 3200*

Towards the end of the day we stopped back by the monkey house to see if any that weren’t up yet that morning were romping around. This little guy and his mother were wrestling and playing. It was pretty funny to see considering I do the same thing with my dog. The problem was that they were facing away from me for the majority of their rough housing. Eventually the baby ran off and turned back around towards me where I was able to take this photo of him picking his nose. It was like looking in a mirror.

I could definitely sympathize with the rhino. He wasn’t doing anything except laying nose deep in his little pool. A time before when I was there, he was running back and forth splashing around. This time, it was the complete opposite, but again, I got really lucky that I could set up in a spot where he was more or less looking right at me. He didn’t move the whole time we were standing there. Clearly he’s seen some shit.

As we made our way back around towards the exit, I noticed that the zebras were in a much better spot than they were that morning. There was a little baby closer to the fence, but the parent had her nose down in the grass right in the middle of a patch of sunlight. I was able to get a pretty good spot by the barricade and zoom in super tight on it eating. The baby was pretty cute, but it wouldn’t get away from this super ugly tree that was ruining the shot.

Overall, it was a really fun day. It wasn’t overly crowded and it wasn’t miserably hot. Most of the animals were out running around and having a good time. Only thing we didn’t get to see were the cheetahs. It seems that they’re renovating that whole area of the park and the exhibit was shut down until the spring. The renderings looked really cool, but until then, I guess I won’t be getting any close ups.

Portraits of the Zoo

My Sister’s Grave – Robert Dugoni

The Way of Kings – Brandon Sanderson