So april is here, and with it some pretty crappy weather. I started the month off down in Cornwall, hoping for it to brighten up and give me the chance to get out and get some images, but it basically rained for the whole time I was down there so that nullified any chance of that happening. When there was a break in the weather and I did have some time, I managed to get a couple of images, but not a great deal that I was happy with.

Moving on from my time in Cornwall, I was back up in bristol looking forward to a little trip to the Mendips, but due to bad weather (again), I had to change some plans and so instead took a trip to Bristol zoo. It turned out to be a great decision, as it gave kelly, my enthusiastic companion for the trip, a chance to really learn how to use her brand new DSLR camera. (more on her results later)

Kicking things off then were the ever annoying, and photographically elusive red pandas. This was the THIRD time I have tried to take a half decent image of these guys, but apparently they much prefer to be curled up at the tops of their enclosures trees and lick themselves all day.....

I managed to get a couple of half decent shots with the 400mm but getting a shot of these guys with open eyes took ages, and several changes of angle.

Moving on from the red pandas, the Lemurs were much easier to photograph this time around as they had finally been let out into their outdoor enclosure, which is accessible to the public to walk through. This meant no more glass reflections, which is fantastic for me. As you can see the images have come out really well, with some great, pin sharp images of the Lemurs up in the trees above the footpath taken with my 400mm F/5.6 

We moved on from the Lemurs and ventured into the Gorilla house, which as I have discussed in previous blog posts, is very dark, crowded, with sloping glass that is either dirty, very reflective, or a bit of both, so taking a useable image is very difficult to do. I was not getting anything of note so attempted to be a bit more creative. The images below are not the best but are quite quirky/different.

We moved on from the Gorillas and managed to be at the Otter enclosure during their feeding, which gave me the opportunity to try and get some images of them enjoying their food, and being out of the water. It was difficult to do this as so many people had arrived to view their feeding, and due to its minimum focus distance, I needed to stand so far back with the 400mm lens in order to gain focus making it not exactly ideal. Luckily though on this occasion when a gap in the crowd appeared, I got the shot I was after.

We spent some time in the Bug and reptile houses, where I changed over to my 100mm macro, but gave up soon after. For some reason I just could not get the focus like I wanted, and got so frustrated I gave up with it and went back to the 400mm. The 400mm was then used for the rest of the day to capture the Mera's and Meerkat images below. 

It was a great day, with some good images captured by both of us which of course makes it all worth it.

So Finally then, a little gallery of her own work from the trip that I have only lightly edited (all images below), which I'm sure she won't mind me sharing, So well done,  Dealt well with a brand new DSLR camera (Nikon), shooting in Manual, and dealing with me shouting 'get closer' all day. Some really great, sharp images!!

P.S Ducks do have necks.....

FIN