Practice Makes Perfect?

I still have a lot to learn about my camera. 

For starters, I need to read the book I got for Christmas, but sometimes it just takes trial and error to figure things out.  These were the shots I took at the zoo last week a few days after getting my new lens, and while there’s a gracious plenty of room for improvement, I don’t think I did half bad.

It’s not a regular day without a little brother/sister fun.

We had a great time watching the penguin feeding.  As many times as we’ve been to the zoo, we always seem to miss their lunch.  Tyler and Caroline loved seeing the fish everywhere and watching the penguins chase after them. 

Not only did we get lucky in the penguin department, but all the animals were out to play.  I couldn’t believe our luck, especially on my “photography 101 self-teaching day.”

Both of these guys look like they’re glaring right at me, huh?

I’m almost certain my gorilla friend was deliberately trying to escape me.  After visiting a few other animals, I found him on the backside of his exhibit, lurking by the cement wall…  Glaring, yet again.  :)

The bears put on a GREAT show.  I’ve honestly never seen anything like it, nor had the other ten people who started whipping out video cameras and iPhones around me.  These guys played, wrestled, and chased it other all over the place. 

Although Caroline and Tyler were having a great time seeing all the fun animals and their shows, wouldn’t you know the most exciting thing to them were birds?  BIRDS. 

Too bad the ostrich was too tired to eat his pine needles, because Tyler figured he might as well taste them.  Such a boy.

Remember my favorite llama?  Let me refresh your memory.

We wrapped up with some lazy monkeys and a wild baby baboon.  Caroline loved that little baboon so much that she cried for him all the way to the car.  Poor thing.

All in all, I was ecstatic with my outdoor classroom.  My subjects couldn’t have been more cooperative.  :)