Well then, as the tail end of December creeps ever closer it can only mean one thing and that's the big guy with the white hair, red nose and boisterous beard is going to be heard shuffling around outside before finally crashing in and demanding to see our interior briefs...... so it was time to get a move on.
My original plan was that my interior brief was going to compliment my exterior brief by being simply a study of cafe culture....Northern style from the other side of the door of all the same cafes I'd visited the last time I was here. This however wasn't to be as on my return visit to Blackpool I was soon to discover that at least 80% of the places had shut up shop as the season had finally come to a close with the switching off of the town's illuminations and so there I was, bruised... but not beaten. I'd called in my first cafe earlier in the day for a swift cappuccino and to contemplate my assault from the sanctuary of a table in the corner where I could eye my surroundings and try and envisage the 10 shots I was hoping to produce. It was all there, signage, menus, customers, staff and all the busy comings and goings from the kitchen area but that was when it hit me.....I should have prearranged my visit as I felt with all the general hustle and bustle that was going on around me that I would be considered more of a nuisance than anything else. This was when I thought I'd check out my other places to see if there was a calmer ambience where I could operate and interact without actually getting in the way but it wasn't to be as this was when I discovered that the majority of the others did indeed have a much calmer ambience. Brilliant !! I thought.....now if only they'd been open.
Now I didn't quite give up there and then, and instead, after a walk round shooting some street stuff for therapeutic purposes (A1 prints), I decided to call back at the first cafe thinking that if I ordered something to eat I could strike up a conversation with the staff and try and worm my way into their hearts and do the full shoot there , but it never happened. Why ? Well because they were just simply that busy and I didn't feel the atmosphere was inviting enough to pop the question.... so I didn't.
Now then, having never really been a quitter, I could already see the lifeboat as it undulated in the squall that was starting to build within the digital development tank that sits somewhere in the back of mind and all it was needing was the sails. So that was it, I bade a final formican farewell to the army of Sarsons bottles and set off with the cogs already whirring away in anticipation of plan B......the zoo.
As a child I think my zoo visits were pretty few and far between, in fact 2 to be precise and approximately 43½ miles depending on which way you choose to go from Colwyn Bay to Chester, oh, and there was Knowsley Safari Park but that's not a zoo as such so it doesn't really count. I think this infrequency was down to my dad's logical way of thinking which was basically along the lines of "you've been there once, you don't need to go again" so we never did, end of story... well almost. Having always had a slight rebellious streak growing up I knew that one day I'd get one back at my dad and so 20 odd years later I made it my mission to go to a zoo anytime I wanted, just as long as it was open and as long as I had nothing better to do, so I did. Chester, Colwyn Bay, Dudley (following an aborted attempt to visit Cadbury's World after finding out a) you had to book a tour, b) ridiculous amount of money and c) my then girlfriend's little brat hadn't brought his coat and it was blowing a hoolie so a perfect opportunity for revenge) and then Southport (who knew ), Copenhagen, Berlin and finally Chester again because I needed to complete this mission.
Now the majority of my earlier visits to zoos were based around trying to stimulate the minds of my children whilst they were young because I'd always much rather have had them out and about be it at the beach, in the countryside or visiting a zoo as I still had the power to do so because I more than aware that my powers would soon degenerate in direct proportion to their desire to be seen out and about with either parent as they mumbled their way through their teenage years. These earlier visits resulted in nothing more than poor quality point and shoot attempts at say a bear at 300 yards with the back of either sons head as they peered in it's general direction in some pathetic attempt to remind them in their later years that they had indeed been there and I had the evidence to prove it, lots of it, all over the place in all it's Truprint glory, or was it Bonus Print, either way, I've still got a few free films in the cupboard.
So now I can jump forward a few years to my first DSLR and then my second and show a few examples of my earlier images from zoos which just so happened to coincide with my earlier CS3 Photoshockery experimental processessing techniques which at the time I may have marveled at but in time I would learn to advance with caution. I wouldn't say the first was necessarily bad , but more of an acquired taste, and for this reason I rarely take anything down that I may have uploaded to flickr over the years but instead use it all as a learning curve and to see how I've progressed. The Orangutans were taken at Chester Zoo in 2009 using a Canon 400D and a £90 Sigma DG Macro 70-300mm f4-5.6 zoom lens which is now defunct and sits on the shelf wondering why it's repair value exceeds it's replacement, and the general processing idea was to try and recreate something along the lines of some sort of Victorian film without having taken the time out to see what Victorian film may have actually looked like if, you catch my drift.
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| f5.6 @ 300mm 1/250 ISO400
The 2nd was taken at Copenhagen Zoo in 2010 using the Canon 400D but this time a borrowed Canon 70-200mm f2.8 and was taken with a view to presenting the unusual and in hindsight I would have gone for a smaller aperture, although I feel it still works as it stands as an image but the attention of the lions would have been a lovely bonus.
f7.1 @ 185mm 1/50 ISO200
The 3rd was taken at The Welsh Mountain Zoo in Colwyn Bay in 2010 using the Canon 400D and Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 and is one of my faves, not only because it features one of my favourite little people but also because I captured exactly what I wanted and it has since inspired me to think about another project in the near future.
f2.8 @ 24mm 1/500 ISO200
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I personally feel that the thing with a lot of zoo photography is that so much of it can be just matter of fact as in here's a lion, here's a monkey, here's an elephant etc etc etc , all resplendent in their colourful mundanity....but that wasn't quite what I was looking for. Now I knew it had to be interior so any outside shots were not going to be a factor and instead I was going to have to discover for myself all those places where the animals lurk indoors but without losing any of their wonderment whilst at the same time trying to present them in a different light giving the viewer the opportunity to take a different journey around the animals than that which they may have enjoyed as a child and or parent/family combination, so I was going to have to once again take a journey around my memory banks to try and recall any subliminal influences and to give credit where credit may be due.
Now the story here probably begins whilst perusing the shelves of one of those discount book shop chains you often see on the high street and are more likely to by-pass unless you want a copy of 500 Ways With Rice or Why Pandas Do Handstands , but not me, I always stick my nose in just in case, as on this occasion it paid dividends with a lovely little gem by Britta Jaschinski called quite simply Zoo. I can't actually tell you a great deal about Britta Jaschinski apart from her being born in Germany, now living in London and having comedy initials, but what I can do is post an extract that best describes her book Zoo from the accompanying sales blurb and then share a few of my personal favourites from the book itself.
"Britta Jaschinski's exquisite photographs owe their inspiration to portraiture rather than documentation, creating an atmosphere rather than making a statement. The animals in these photographs have a shadowy, almost enigmatic presence that excites our curiosity and draws us in. Our glimpses of them tend to be partial, fragmentary -- from a furry hand gripping an iron bar to dolphins floating just below the surface of a pool. Polar bears stare from a rocky stage, a zebra stands stock still and quiet. All of them have a melancholy dignity, commanding a sense of respect in the viewer which is tinged with unease. Jaschinski's involvement and empathy is evident throughout, but she never allows it to intrude; instead she has given us an arresting series of pictures and created a hauntingly beautiful book."
Further additional details about Britta can be found here on her website but if you're just looking to jump straight in with the animals and save yourself the admission fee then tickle here with your finger and be cautious where you land.
Over the years I've always been aware of an image of an elephant's trunk accompanied by that of a human hand offering the gift of peanuts and for some reason I always presumed it to be Ellliot Erwitt probably on account of all his dogs shots (don't ask, I couldn't answer) and funnily enough he has one in his portfolio but that wasn't the one I was thinking off although I must have seen it because I recognise it and I knew who was responsible, and here it is.
Now I'll take the bonus point for knowing that but I still need to tell you about the other photograph which was produced by Garry Winogrand as part of his series The Animals which is still in print as a book and available for the rather hefty sum of £125 on one of the more popular shopping sites not a million miles away from a large river in South America...... if you're feeling rather flush. Garry Winogrand (1928-1984) was from New York and was primarily known as a street photographer and for his portrayal of America in the mid 20th Century. Armed with a 35mm Leica and a preset wide angle lens, he could often be found roaming the streets capturing images that would depict social issues at the time, but what's that got to do with zoos ? Well, in 1969, after visiting Bronx Zoo and Coney Island, he produced the aforementioned The Animals which was a collection of images that observed the connection between humans and animals and in some instances was deemed a touch controversial, but I'm not here to talk about that so if you want to know what I'm waffling on about then you'll just have to go Googling and make up your own mind, but what I will talk about is the images I have below .
As I've already mentioned, The Animals sets out to show connections between humans and animals and I'm all for that as not only does it give you the opportunity to study the situations presented to you for yourself and form an opinion if you so wish, but it also gives you the chance to just appreciate them for their subtle humour and I'm not talking about roll around on the floor hilarity here, I'm merely talking about those moments when the corners of your mouth turn up ever so slighty and your eyes respond with a smile as you accept that many are just the mildest of heart warming moments of which you may have wished to have been part....such as this which also goes someway to explain my earlier confusion.
There's plenty more information on Winogrand on the web and I'm sure you know how to find it but I will leave you with a short 12 minute video which although it isn't really about zoos it gives you an insight into his way of thinking and if you fancy a little bit of trivia then tell your friends that when he died in 1984, he left behind more than 2500 undeveloped rolls of film.
My final choice of influence is more about nostalgia rather than a particular photographer, not that I'm THAT old, I just mean I love old photographs and even more so when they raise a smile. I've had a good look round to see who may be responsible for these following images and the best I could come up with was a gentleman called Bert Hardy and this was only because I discovered another image of a panda taking a picture of a child sat on a chair and the child is pointed out to be the photographer Bert Hardy's son so I just put 2 and 2 together after seeing who I presume to be the same child in one of these. I'll endeavour to get to the bottom of who did actually take them all but in the mean time enjoy a few of these from London Zoo.
The above photographs were sourced from HERE but the Bert Hardy image came from an article in The Telegraph HERE and if you wish to see more of what Bert was up to when he wasn't making children cry then you check out more of his stuff HERE . If you do appreciate and enjoy these old images then there's a BOOK on the ZSL.org site that has just had an additional 200 images added featuring photographs of London Zoo from between 1852 -1914 and I thoroughly recommend you buy it, and when you do let me know so I can borrow it, cheers.
So now it was time for me to take yet another approach to shooting at the zoo knowing full well that my main agenda/headache was going to be that they all had to be 'internal'. I picked a day mid week when I knew the schools weren't off plus it was cold and dull which hopefully meant that there would not only be a distinct lack of uninvited frame wanderers but also that there would be more of a chance of a wider range of animals choosing to stay indoors. In my bag all I really needed was the Canon 5D MKII which is a blessing in low light, a Canon 70-200mm f2.8 for quality at a distance plus a Canon 1.4x extender to give me some extra focal length and my Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 for those critters that aren't so shy and like to hang around against the glass of their enclosures. The ISO was always going to have to be checked before each shoot to make sure I could maintain a decent shutter speed plus I'd also decided to shoot at a wider aperture to reduce the risk of any distracting backgrounds that may be looming and the only other thing to remember, and I speak from experience, is to be aware that when you venture indoors, especially if it's into a tropical environment, then allow you lens to acclimatise as it'll most certainly be prone to condensation as will your view finder so be patient and carry something suitable to wipe with things with..... matron. Oh, one final thing before I forget, I'd decided before setting off that a flash would be a really bad idea as not only would it be a waste of time against any glass housings but also it would be more likely to induce mass hysteria in most of the animal enclosures rather than impress them enough to want to strike a pose, so think on.
Picking my final 10 was no easy task and I found myself not only swapping images in and out of my portfolio on a regular basis but also rearranging their viewing order to ensure it was at no point in danger of creating a lull in the viewers senses, so some of the one's that didn't quite make the grade are as follows ....
Firstly the chimpanzee giving the finger, a moment of mirth yes, but unfortunately not a moment that will last and so once the fun had gone out of it I decided it was no longer an option plus on top of that I was never really happy with the distraction of the focus on the rope which although it must have been at the same focal length it has always niggled me.
f4 @ 280mm 1/30 ISO1250
Secondly this fella failed to make the grade simply because he wasn't interesting enough which I could put down to the overall darkness of his environment but personally I'd say it was because we lacked eye contact which I've always felt makes an image so much stronger so another 10 degrees and he might have been in with a chance. One thing I will point out here is you can see the way reflections can interfere with your image when shooting through glass by the light trace on his arm but I have made worse mistake which I may show you at the end if you're lucky.
f4 @ 280mm 1/20 ISO1600
The third example is actually one of my favourites because it's part of what I had originally considered for the complete set in the way of being slightly mysterious in it's identification and so making the viewer look longer at the image to try and ascertain what he/she was actually looking at.....it's a gibbon by the way.
f4 @ 280mm 1/100 ISO1250
And so that's enough of those that didn't make it in and time for those that did starting with this great grey owl simply because I needed an 'in your face' image to start the collection but also because it's quite a strong representation of my intention to not give the game away as to what it was too early. The bird itself was in an aviary but to the rear of the aviary within a shed so I was shooting through wire mesh but knowing that it wouldn't really be a problem as the focal length would ensure it wasn't visible and I wasn't really looking for a full on face shot as we've all seen lots of those so it just meant hanging around for a while until it's curiosity dropped and it went back to checking out what was going on elsewhere.
f4 @ 280mm 1/100 ISO400
Next up was the Congo buffalo who blessed me with the best candid portrait of the day. I realised early on that a few of the bigger beasts were going to be found outside but fortunately on this occasion there were a couple of young calves and so they'd opted for the warmth of their cattle shed and even though this one was busy chowing down it managed to retain eye contact at all times. The shed was dimly lit so the ISO was pushed up to 1600 because it's jaw never stomped chomping and I wanted to freeze some mouth action, which I did .
f4 @ 280mm 1/40 ISO1600
Now this little beauty is a Hornbill and I don't think you need me to tell you the reason I chose this one was because it's a plethora of textures and tones plus I'm also big on catch-lights in the eyes and this one has more than enough to satisfy me. This one was situated in a tropical house so it's was a question of checking for condensation on both the lens and viewfinder on entry so as to be prepared in advance should I spot a frame filler. This was also shot through mesh which was taken care of as I said earlier but one thing I would say is you need to be patient and wait for a shot, especially around some of the jumpier animals, so if you set up a spot in front of their cage etc they will eventually settle down as they get used to your presence and things become easier.
f4 @ 280mm 1/20 ISO1250
This one was taken from inside the giraffe house looking out through the doorway and one of the more noticeable things in the image is the criss-cross pattern which is a combination of the trees in the distance, the perimeter fence and the internal mesh within the giraffe house that I was shooting through. I'd been there a while trying to capture something slightly abstract or quirky but it wasn't really happening and I think he must have got fed up to because that's when he decided to have a look what was going on outside. Bingo !! I loved the way the light caught his neck and highlighted a perculiar muscular twist and to top it all you can see both sets of eyelashes even though I am behind the subject. Chasing a giraffe for focus is more of a challenge than you may think and once it starts wandering in and out between two different light sources it'll wind you up even more.
f4 @ 280mm 1/2500 ISO1250
When I came across this monitor lizard with it's foot just hanging there it was definately going to be a contender but with it being so close against the glass it was time to swap the big fella for the 24-70 which also gave me chance to rest my arm. This particular shot took a fair amount of positioning to try and eradicate to worst of the reflections but I got there in the end and even though I did find his head at the other window it was never going to beat this shot.
f9 @ 70mm 1/30 ISO1600
With this particular shot of a golden tamarin I found myself having to rest the front of the camera lens against the glass window to prevent any reflections and luckily with it being the 70-200 all movement is contained within the body of the lens so you don't end up looking like some kind of nutter as your head moves in and out as it would, and did, with my 24-70 in similar situations. This was chosen for the tears ( it's ok the weren't real) , texture and overall detail contained in it's cute little face....it wasn't really sad, they just try it on for peanuts.
f4 @ 255mm 1/25 ISO1600
The rhino, luckily another one of the bigger beasts that had ventured indoors, this one being a female and in the process of trying to redistribute the hay bales in the direction of it's calf which was in the same pen but not cute enough to warrant any attention...well not for my purposes anyway. This was another of those chosen as it formed part of my original plan of showing the animals in a different light and talking of light this was probably tungsten so I adjusted my white balance accordingly even though I knew it could be tweaked in photoshop but it doesn't do any harm to get to grips with such matters in the field.
f4 @ 145mm 1/25 ISO1250
Now this one of the orangutan nearly didn't make it and it was only when I opted for a closer crop to lose the distracting selection of man-made vines that it won me over. The mixture of textures from the fur through to the face ensured it's place in my final 10 and just goes to show that you should never delete your images until you are absolutely sure there is nothing there .....you know who you are !!!
f4 @ 270mm 1/60 ISO1250
Onto number 9 now and the gibbon that didn't make it earlier needn't have worried because he won me over with this shot of his hand when I decided to hang around (pun intended) to see what was on offer when he wasn't just sat there posing. From the detail in the fingers to where the highlights on his arm match the fibres of the rope, this was always going to be a keeper (and again) .
4 @ 210mm 1/60 ISO800
Finally number 10, which actually started out as number 1 but got relegated to the final page to add a closing bit of impact to my set of internal images. This was another of those shot within an aviary shed but being such a bizarre and wonderful bird the southern cassowary had to be included and even though it has the most colourful of head and neck combinations, and at times looks slightly prehistoric, it didn't lose any of it's charm in it's transformation to black and white. The detail on the cassowary is stunning and I've only managed to show you a small portion, but I blame those fluttering eye lashes for that and not to mention her big beautiful eyes ....well I hope it's a she . The slightest of crops on this one just to bring the eye onto a nice cross over point for the rule of thirds ...job done.
f4 @ 280mm 1/80 ISO400mm
In conclusion there's a massive part or me that is thrilled to bits with this visit to the zoo because even though it was a last minute change of plan I took the time out to decide what I was looking for before I got there and it made all the difference to how I treated the day and how I balanced my time in such away that I didn't waste any of the day shooting stuff I wasn't going to be able to use, and by this I mean in an exterior location. In general I feel I brought you the zoo just as I intended with a slightly different view point and yet with a sympathetic eye without causing any upset to the viewer with their preconceived ideas of zoos perhaps being sad places. I've been to several zoos now and in my honest opinion I feel that Chester Zoo is one of those trying it's hardest in it's quest for conservation.
Now back to the nitty gritty, if you're looking for advice for shooting in zoos then my first and most important one would be to have some idea of what you are hoping to come home with. Study images that inspire you and then find out what equipment you may need in your desire to achieve something similar, and in my opinion you should be able to do just that with something akin to a 24-70 or kit lens, plus a zoom somewhere up to 300 mm. All my post processing work here was done in PS5 using just a touch of sharpening, a gradient layer to achieve my black and whites, and the gentlest of tickles on the tones. Don't take a flash, do take a lens cloth, along with plenty of memory cards and a spare battery and above all else, be patient. Oh, and before I forget, I mentioned earlier about being aware of reflections in glass as you are shooting and I promised you an example so here it is from a trip to Berlin in November.....
f4.5 @ 125mm 1/60 ISO800
.......still savable with a little cloning though.
Over and out !
