For the past several years I've been enthusiastically shooting pictures at Brookfield Zoo. I won second place in their photo contest two years ago, and after the time I've spent there in the Summer I've grown kind of bored with most of the opportunities there. It's not that it's boring there, it seems like every time I go something special happens. One time it was a young dwarf mongoose running up to a window to see me, it stood upright against the glass and pressed its nose against the window staring at me. I didn't have the right lens attached to my camera and there wasn't enough light there anyway, I chose to ignore trying to take a picture of it in order to just enjoy the moment. But photographically, my new zoo passion is winter. Some of my favorite animals are the snow leopards and the Mexican grey wolves. To an extent it would appear that associating wolves with primarily cold climates is completely false, it's just that we've exterminated them from most other climates. But still, to me, there's little more breathtaking than a wolf walking through heavy snow. Except perhaps a snow leopard. I've already gotten shots of both of them in some degree of snow, although in both cases the snow wasn't fresh, it was clear that the snow had already been heavily tracked. I wanted fresh snow to make the scene look more like a shot taken in the wild. Plus I really wanted falling snow in the frame. My inspiration has been this shot: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... _uncia.jpg I look at that picture and I'm awe struck every time. It's still not fresh snow on the ground, it's heavily packed, but I don't care. The feeling of a connection you get with that animal is incredible, and the snow in the air is the crowning touch. I got a chance with the recent snow we've had. I found the right time, kept an eye on the weather, and as soon as the snow started falling I was out the door and on the way to the zoo (I left enough lead time so that some snow could accumulate by the time I got there to cover up the nasty old snow still on the ground). Well, to make a long story slightly less long, I didn't get anything great. I think it was due to a number of factors. It was too late, the wolves and leopards were largely inactive. In particular there weren't any snow leopards in a certain enclosure, they have two snow leopard areas with one being far better oriented for pictures. That one has been empty the past two times.. and I get worried when that happens. They tend to be silent when their animals are sick or dead unless their hand is forced on the matter, so I never know if it's just a routine matter or if one of my favorite animals might have died. So no snow leopard for me. The leopard shot that I've included is an Amur leopard, many may feel that it's more attractive but my love has always been for the snow leopard. In any case it was no more active. Even the polar bears were taking it easy. In that shot you see Hudson, their cub which was born December 2006, and his mother. So on to my lessons learned. The timing wasn't my fault, I took what the falling snow gave me. My problem was that I couldn't let my camera cool off. See, my typical winter approach is to tuck my camera inside my jacket to warm it up before entering a building in order to prevent condensation. In my previous winter shooting trips there wasn't any snow falling, so I could take it out and let it cool down when I wanted to shoot. But this time the snow instantly started collecting on my camera and melting. And my camera is NOT one of the weather proofed models, nor is my usual telephoto lens. So my lesson is this. The next time I do this, I will bring a large plastic bag, or something similar, and place the camera in it. Instead of keeping it warm inside my jacket I will let it cool down to the ambient outdoor temperature (but I will keep the battery pack in a pocket to keep it warm). Then I will be able to take it out and shoot some pictures without the snow instantly melting when it touches the camera. I need to come up with something to do about my hat too. I wore my usual hat, which is a wide brimmed water proof deal. NOT a knit cap at all, I got it for summer shooting, the water proof part was for Disney World trips. It's fine in the Winter as well, but enough heat from my head gets through that some of the snow that gets on it melts. When I go indoors it really melts, and then the first time I tilt my head down I get a waterfall running off my head. Several times that almost fell onto my camera. And then after a few temperature cycles I end up with an ice crust on the brim. Oh, one last comment, I always like reporting on my special moments. Although no outdoors animals were performing for me this trip I had my best ever encounter with the clouded leopard. There was no chance to get a good picture of it. I tried, but all I got were blurred images with part of the animal showing. But it was closer than I'd ever seen it before, walking across a fake log right on my level, coming right up to the fence and pressing its paws against the fence, apparently expressing curiosity towards me. In the past the animal in that enclosure had threatened me, jumping up against the fence in a clear threat display. But this time that wasn't what I got at all. It was rubbing against things in a fairly standard feline gesture, also opening its mouth in what looked like a yawn but may have been a smelling behavior (there's a thing animals sometimes do that looks like a yawn, but is really designed to get scents to certain special receptors). I was beside myself, the animal that I normally never see was right there in front of me, looking at me. AND I COULDN'T GET A PICTURE OF IT! Even if I'd had my tripod it wouldn't have done any good. It was moving too fast, the enclosure is dark enough that I need exposures long enough that it has to be staying completely still. Instead, for once, it was active and alert. [This attachment has been purged. Older attachments are purged from time to time to conserve disk space. Please feel free to repost your image.]
