Awesome Photos

A while ago I decided to begin taking portraits of zoo animals out of sheer love and respect for the animals.  Soon after I decided to mat the images and sell them at my shows in a special animal section I called Zootography..  And soon after that, it seemed only right to  donate a portion of the images selling price to the zoos themselves.  Now that I have kids, it seems even more special to have the opportunity to see and learn about such amazing animals.  Many zoos today such as Santa Barbara Zoological Gardens and San Diego Zoo go to special lengths, it seems, to educate the public on the how we can better our world and save species from dwindling into endangerment, or worse, disappearing into extinction.

This particular shot was taken at the San Diego Zoo at one of our favorite exhibits.  I had taken along my Nikon D200 and my new newly purchased Nikon 200-400mm (an essential wildlife lens.) The bears were so joyful and playful that my family and I stayed and watched them for well over an hour and I, of course, was waiting for a good pose. As many of you who have been to the “Polar Bear Plunge” well know,the bears swimming pool is held in by a giant see-through wall making it seem as if you are in the pool with these giant beautiful cuddly-seeming creatures.   We were amazed at how they swam right up to the glass and touched noses with us.  It seemed they could see us and wanted very much to connect with us.  (However, for all I know, it was one way glass. Oh, how I can’t help but  be anthropomorphic.) Anyway, needless to say, I finally got my shot when the bears calmed down and climbed out of the water to rest.

It is my wish that the world would be a place where no animal would have to be in any type of confinement- every one could be free, not hunted, encroached upon or bothered.  But, alas, this world just doesn’t work that way.  We have zoos and the reality is that the good ones end up being places where each animal is an ambassador for all it’s relatives in the wild.  They say to us: “See how beautiful or interesting or amazing I am?  Please clean up your act so my family in the wild can keep on keeping on….”