A couple of cats-Lions (zoo-captive)

D1x/500mm/ iso125 F11 1/320


Hello NatureScapers:

The Minneapolis area has two zoos. The Minnesota Zoological Garden is very photographer friendly with many natural type enclosures providing suitable backgrounds for image making. The Como Park Zoo is a much smaller zoo in Como Park, St Paul. It is a free zoo and has less $ to make changes in enclosures. As time goes by, more and more enclosures are becoming "natural" and not just concrete, chain link and fake rocks.

So last Friday I finished work a little early and was able to get to the Como Park Zoo by 4:00; they lock up at 6:00 (as the light is getting good). I walked around looking for things to try to photograph for this forum.

The two lions were sitting right next to each other, leaning together. The conditions included shooting down around chain link fence, at a height of about 30 ft above the animals, chain link behind them, some not so natural MN oak trees, and a fake rock with a pond in front. The light was scattered with heavy shadows in the background and spotty light on the animals. The only neat thing was that the two were sitting together giving a male female comparison. Even though the animals are a given at zoos, the image making can be very difficult.

Although I probably should have walked away, I stubbornly looked at different angles, and places I could be on this narrow board walk to try to get a shot. Standing on my toes, this is what I came up with. I have been thinking about several recent topics in the phototopics area, like why do we constrain ourselves to certain crop sizes, and of course the famous call to creativity.

So what do you think...? Delete or keep? You wont hurt my feelings if you think it stinks, I am not really sure about it myself..

Thanks for looking and any comments.