Tuesday, August 12, 2014

07/29/14 Glen Oak Park Zoo: Peoria, IL

 A Bengal tiger enjoying the shade at the Peoria Zoo at Glen Oak Park in Peoria, IL

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.