To The Zoo

Sometimes friends spur you on to go out and photograph.  This happened last weekend.  I normally would not go to the zoo on a cold March day with snow on the ground, but Lake County Camera Club was having an outing to the Milwaukee County Zoo.  So I went.  I am glad I did.  It gave me a chance to practice using my new 70-200mm lens inside and I used my 100-400mm zoom lens outside.  I ditched the tripod and hand held which forced me to use higher shutter speeds to stop any motion blur and to concentrate on getting the eyes in focus with a lower f stop.  I love the big cats and here are two of my favorites a 7 month old Snow Leopard cub outside and a Jaguar taken inside.

Seeing From a Different Perspective

We have sure had some storms this past winter.  A lot of wind pounding waves onto the shore.  I had wanted to get a picture of the frozen ice near the Kenosha harbor light.  I went down the street near the light and I didn't see anything of what I was hoping for.  A week later, a friend posted a picture on her Facebook page from the Kenosha News.  There was the picture I was looking for!  Hmmm!  I knew where they got the shot.  And I knew I had to go soon as time was short.  The forcast was calling for temperatures in the 40s to 50s next week and then it wouldn't be safe to walk out on the ice.  So I went down to Simmons Island early the next morning and walked out onto the still frozen landscape.  I walked up and down the landscape carefully peering out along the shore until I found the spot to get both the harbor light and the frozen cliffs of ice in the picture.  Below is one of my favorite shots of the morning.  Sometimes it is just in looking in a different place from a different perspective to find that shot you are looking for.