I can't believe it has been over two months since my last blog entry. That shows how often I've taken out the camera since Alaska and Barbados.
Our camera club had a workshop Monday night where Zoo-To-You brought 30 to 40 exotic animals to photograph. They are a perennial favourite of our club, and always fun to see which exotics they bring. This year was no exception.
Rather than bring a camera bag full of gear, I decided to pack light. One body, one lens. So I brought the Nikon D3 and Nikon 105mm Micro. Having a fixed focal length lens makes you think more about composition, and forces you to move around quite a bit more rather than rely on a zoom ring. Putting more thought into that is always a good thing. I like using fixed focal length lenses once in a while for that very reason.
Here are some of my favourite images from this shoot:
Dolly the Burmese Python. I remember Dolly from last year, she's put on a little weight since then. The handlers let me hold her last year, which was allot of fun.
Turnip the Skinny Pig. Actually Turnip is a Guinea Pig that was born with abnormally short hair.
A Pac-Man Frog, although I forget his name. Very small, about the size of a quarter. Good thing I was using a Macro lens!
Gizmo the Sugar Glider, all the way from Australia.
A Spectacled Caiman, sorry forgot his name too. This guy was very young, only about 10 inches long, but have a look at those teeth!
American Alligator, about 4 years old, and about 4 feet long. His handler kept a very close eye on him. With teeth like that, I'm sure he could take off your hand before you knew what hit you!
And my personal favourite...
Charlotte the Pink Haired Tarantula. Very cute! Charlotte's handler let me hold her, which has always been on my bucket list. I though Mary Ann would be interested (she loves all things Pink), but she was not impressed at all...
We are off to Florida in a couple of weeks, so I suppose I'll have to look for Pink Flamingos...
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Thanks for reading...
Mark
