He Loved The Chocolate Swirl

I paid a long overdue visit to Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo yesterday. My fourth-born and I were on a mission to see all the baby big cats who have arrived in the past few months. 

The baby jaguars are four months old and have currently graduated to chewing sticks. Huzzah!

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Two snow leopards, born over a year ago, are approaching their full size. But their fur is still exquisitely fluffy and soft, all the way down to the tips of their outlandish tails.

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And the lion cubs are also in prime form. Mom has her back to us, on the left side of the downed tree branch. To the right are her three nine-month old cubs, who were happily gnawing on massive cow bones at the moment. Good times.

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Glad as I was to get these reasonably interesting shots of the animals, I wasn't satisfied with my camera roll yet. Because to me, the best zoo photos reveal the interaction between the beasts who live there, and the humans who come to visit.

So for the rest of the day, I experimented with several different strategies for capturing this type of shot, with mixed levels of success.

Dark human profiles, created by the shade inside the viewing shelters, provide an interesting contrast to the animals beyond. However, these animals are simply too far away to show up in the shot. Believe it or not, there are zebras resting under that tree in the center of the photo. Darn you, African Savannah exhibit, for your wide open spaces!

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In my experience, hippos don't usually bother to do much showing off. Surprisingly, this rascal was in fine form yesterday, as he swam across his muddy pond to the stream of fresh water, opened his comically massive mouth, and delighted the crowd by taking a long, leisurely drink.

From my vantage point, the crowd of onlookers peering down upon him made just the kind of scene I was hoping to capture. But alas, the leafy green branches created an obstacle between them and me that pretty much ruined the entire effect.

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Somewhat more successful was this bird's eye view of a sweet little boy who slipped in front of me to watch the scampy little jaguar cubs. I'll admit that I felt a little stalkerish and creepy for taking a photo of him, but he was so adorably absorbed in watching this scene that I couldn't resist.

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But of all the human/animal shots I made during my trip to the zoo, this one is my favorite. Yep, that's me, offering a lick of my ice cream cone to a resident giraffe. I'll leave it to you to figure out exactly how I made that magic happen, but trust me, it was the easiest shot I took all day.

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