Patrol

Wandering through the Valley of Kings within the Knoxville Zoo, the last thing I expected to find were Hamadryas Baboons patrolling the perimeter of their enclosure. Yet here they were on the overcast day, the older, larger animal leading the other as they slowly passed along the fence line. The overcast day allowing for the animals to take on a soft contrast, the harsh colors washed slightly in the mid morning. They took momentary notice of me approaching the habitat, then just as quickly turned away, and continued the endless trek.

I’m not a big fan of trying to shoot through glass to get an image, less a fan of capturing the fence at the zoo, it damages the viewers ability to suspend their disbelief that I have traveled to far away locations. Yet, in this case I didn’t have much of a choice, the animals stuck close to the walls of the enclosure and refused to venture out into the middle while I was there. The crowd sticking to just the lion exhibit, yet these animals may yet be more majestic in their habitat, I mean, they don’t seem to sleep 22 hours out of the day after all.

Strangely, while not at all my favorite photo from the trip, this is the photo I used to set the color profile, style and look for the entire day, outside of the elephant and rhino photos. This photo was important to me, because the fence allowed me to find the blue color shift, and also allowed me to wash the grass out without loosing the color. When you did a day long shoot like these zoo photos, you should be mindful of a consistent look and style, it allows you to fully explore the day, and not loose the viewer in haphazard edits.

Until Next Time!

Aperture: f4.7
ISO: 160
SS: 1/125th
Focal: 143mm

Fujinon 100-400mm