The Grizzly Bears were next, and they were as exciting as ever. Scott loves to point out that this is the only place where he can point out with utter certainty what an animal is going to do at a given time….and he was right.

The bears have a pretty predictable routine here, and that makes it much easier for us to photograph. While we shoot, we stress the importance of ALWAYS checking your settings to make sure that the shutter speed is fast enough to get a nice crisp image. It takes practice but people really start to figure it out over the course of the day.

We made a few stops along the way to eat lunch, and shot the flamingos after we finished eating. I love to show how to use the flamingos to shoot in monochrome with the cool varied pink tones…it also helps showcase repetition of shape, and shallow depth of field.

The Gorillas were the highlight of the post lunch shooting, and they were really behaving well today. We saw a scuttle between a few of the primates, and the little Hasani was really getting into mischief as well, even picking up a handful of hay and hurling it at the giant silverback as a sign of juvenile defiance. Everyone got a lot of nice shots of these wonderfully expressive apes.

The final stop of the fast paced day is the meerkats and raptors. I always think its funny to put the poor meerkats next to the raptors, but maybe they do it to keep them on their toes and always on the lookout. It certainly makes for nicer poses to shoot that’s for sure…and we love to see the little critters strut their stuff for our lenses!

Time flew by on this class. Lots of fun, and interested students made for a great day for both Scott and I!