I love photographing animals. So in pursuing this I visit a lot of zoos. I really like the newer zoos where the animal are in a more natural habitat. A perfect example of this is Tampa, Florida’s Lowery Park Zoo. When I was a kid I remember the old style zoo that was full of 
animals in concrete pits with no foliage or shelters. Then in my late teens they renovated and went to an open air bars free zoo. Now the animals look happier and most important to me and the other photogs, the opportunities for unencumbered shots opened up. So one day with my do everything 28-200mm zoom lens, trusty Pentax K-1000 loaded with T-Max 100 film in hand, I was at the tiger enclosure. The tiger couple were enjoying an afternoon nap together when the male awoke and yawned. And I happened to be there at the right moment. The truth is I had been there ready for something to happen for over a half hour. I knew that if I waited for them to wake up, there was a chance of them running around, licking one another, or something interesting. The wait paid off, at least in my opinion. This picture represents everything I love in a photo. Good depth of field, extreme detail, and capturing a moment that tells the story without words. One of my personal bests.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Day Nine–One of My Favorite Photos
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2 comments:
I really like this photo also. Looks more like something you posted from a magazine! Was the depth of field really this neat when you took the photo or did you alter it later? The black and white is a nice effect also. VERY VERY good!!!! Keep it up!
This is actually a scan from an 8x10 print. This is back in the day when I had my own darkroom set up in my kitchen and used my dining room table as an enlarger easel. I bulk loaded the film into cartridges, developed and printed this one. years later I flatbeded this using an epson scanner. This photo is untouched except for pushing the contrast for posting to the web. The black and white isn't an effect. This was a very fine grained Kodak film in the T-Max line. the lens was likely at around 150mm and an F-Stop of f-8 allowing good Bokeh with the compression from the telephoto.
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