On July 29th, I decided to visit another local zoo in Peoria, IL. This time I checked out the Peoria Zoo at Glen Oak Park. I've visited this zoo as well when I was much younger, but it had been awhile since I've last checked out the animals. It was another stellar late-July summer morning and afternoon on this day. The animals definitely cooperated as well as they were enjoying the weather and moving around quite a bit. This allowed me to get some great shots of the animals as they roamed a bout. It was a fun afternoon roaming around the zoo capturing some good shots. Clearly, I have no doubt that these are the best photos I've shot at a zoo ever. It took a lot of work and several hours to compose these images ex. finding the right angles and getting the animals to cooperate a little bit as well to get really pleasing shots. I've added several photos I shot during the morning and afternoon below:
This zebra cooperated quite nicely in this shot!
A female lion relaxing and enjoying the beautiful cool summer weather for July-standards...
An antelope taking a load off!
"Big kitty"
A giraffe strolling about which turned out to be quite photogenic with the greenery in the background!
Black swans trying to mimic each other's movements...
A photogenic Budgerigar bird
A male lion looking for a mid-day snack...
Two colorful Budgerigar birds hanging out!
I can't ask for a better pose from this giraffe!
A scary alligator fixing to eat myself and my camera!
An emu at close-range...
Another Budgerigar bird!
I was hoping for Katy Perry to make an appearance unfortunately I wasn't that lucky, but still had me thinking...
"I am a champion and you're gonna hear me roar"
Another favorite I shot of this giraffe which was very camera-friendly!
These Budgerigar birds were fun to photograph especially as fellow visitors fed them seen here...
A colobus monkey, at least it wasn't throwing "stuff" at me!
A photogenic rhinoceros roaming around!
The male lion quite interested in my actions...
Being able to walk in the cage among these birds was great for photography-purposes!
"A peaceful sleeper"
Quite photogenic once again...
A takin posing for a photo!
A tortoise, but where's the hare?
"Beast-mode"
What a great day for photography at the zoo!
A wild antelope looking for the herd...
"Hanging out"
A giant tortoise...yikes!
Another shot of the rhino!
"Peak-a-boo"
A wallaby hopping around...
One last shot of these photogenic birds!
"The men who stares at goats"
An ox, time to hit the Oregon Trail!
This was quite a fun day of photography! Patience is always the key when photographing animals at the zoo or anywhere for that matter. Keep moving and bring a good telephoto-zoom lens to get close-up to the action and you should be able to get some decent shots giving yourself a feeling of accomplishment afterwards. That's all for now...I'll update once again when I finish up my Summer: 2014 photos and if I find some more time for photography over the coming weeks.
