Zoo Photo Shoot

Turtle Girl By Finijo

I went on a photo shoot at the Zoo with a photo group I joined on line. It was a lot of fun and a HUGE learning experience. This statue reminded me of when I rode a turtle like that at the Little Rock Zoo - it doesn't seem the nicest thing to do to a Galapagos turtle.

White Bird by Finijo

This bird was perched at the top of a habitat enclosure that had other birds, gophers, field mice and some strange kind of rabbit. The rodent life seemed to be enjoying themselves as they scampered all over the place.

Vulturine by Finijo

This bird looks like a cross between a vulture and a pheasant. The picture does not do the electric blue plumage justice - it was gorgeous.

Giraffe by Finijo

The sun was really bright, so I had a difficult time seeing what I was shooting at. I took a huge amount of pictures and very few of them were usable. The problems on this shoot were innumerable.

Iguana by Finijo

In the reptile house they use different types of lighting to simulate the habitats of different reptiles. This is one of the few shots that came out looking like it what I saw behind the glass.

Blue Frog by Finijo

I didn't doctor this shot of the frog at all. He is a blue frog with black spots and his tank had a lot of condensation built up on the glass. I like that it came out looking like a heat sensory image.

Albino Gator by Finijo

This guy was half in and half out of the water, so the bottom half looks a little distorted because of the water. I snapped this photo of him just as he was giving me the eye.

Komodo Dragon by Finijo

I took a lot of shots of the Komodo Dragon, but I had to shoot through Plexiglas that was quite scratched up, so there is some distortion. Worse than the distortion was the fact that most of the shots had the reflection of a yellow warning stripe that was on the stairs in front of the enclosure. For being a dangerous reptile, it has a rather sweet facial expression.

Elephant Hiding by Finijo

I took photos of the elephants, but this is the only one I like, because it doesn't show the industrial looking pen. The others are full body shots, but the elephant enclosure looks like something from Juraisic Park - and frankly, it's just too ugly to want to capture in photos.

Snakehead Turtles by Finijo

These guys freaked me out. At first I thought that there were snakes in the water with the turtles - creeeeepy! I took this shot from above their tank while they were under water.

Lioness by Finijo

I shot this beautiful girl through Plexiglas. She came right up to the window I was standing in front of and just plopped down and went to sleep. It was a hot day, so I can't blame her. I thoroughly enjoyed getting together with other photographers (20 in total) and I plan to do it again soon.