carnivora

This place was so cool! I'd definitely love to go back with my current photography sensibilities, as free-roaming exhibits are always some of my favorites. That's more of a general statement about the facility than this photo in particular, as this species had its own fenced off area.

Ingozi being a show-off as always.

Definitely one of those picture perfect moments, so I'm glad I was there to capture it, even if my photography skills at the time weren't what they are now.

I was really proud of this one at the time. Its definitely a cool idea for a photo and I'm happy I was able to capture the moment, but definitely shows that its some of my older work. Still though, I think its worth sharing, even though it isn't perfect.

This photo always felt like a senior picture. I have no idea why but that's what I always think of when I look at it.

These guys rarely ever left their den so I'm glad I got lucky enough to get a decent photo of one being active before they left the St. Louis Zoo, given that this species is uncommon in US zoos.

This and my tiger photo are the first additions to this facility's gallery in a while. Shooting here was very tricky, but it was a good learning experience that a zoo photo doesn't have to look completely natural to be of value, which was a mindset I was very much stuck in at the time.

I do not have a lot of photos from here that are worth sharing, as the enclosures gave me little to work with, but I really like what I did with this one. The lines created by the bars and their shadows look really cool and compliment the stripes really well, I think.

I thought it was cool how his claws were out in this shot. One of those fleeting blink and you'll miss it moments that are really cool to have managed to have caught on camera.

Probably my favorite shot I've ever gotten of this species, and taking it is just generally one of my fondest zoo photography memories. While its objectively probably not up there with my best work, its one of the photos that comes to my mind when I think of the photos I've taken here.

I liked this shot because it gives a good sense of how the enclosure is and you can see how lush it is. I definitely think the lions have the best exhibit of this complex, at least from a visual standpoint.

I really liked the way the bokeh looked in the background. I thought it complimented the pattern of this animal really nicely.

This ended up being a really short visit and it was really crowded (it was about 75 degrees in December) so literally this and the other jaguar photo are the only photos I took that day that I feel are worth putting here.

This photo was originally really faded-looking due to a bad combination of full sun and the glass I took it through. I thought it was a lost cause until just recently when I stumbled upon a photoshop trick that could rescue it. I'm so glad it didn't have to go to waste.

One of the few times I actually utilized the fence as a composition element rather than desperately avoiding having it in the frame. I believe this individual had some kind of condition, because it was cross-eyed (as you can see) and was trembling. I don't have any information about it, though.

Pete having a snack.

Got lucky enough to catch a red panda training session on my way out right before the zoo closed. Right at golden hour too, so the timing was perfect.

I have so many photos of the lions from this visit that I love but I had to go with this one because of how powerful and regal he looks in it. This is Ingozi. You'd never know from this photo, but he's actually small for a male lion. His mate, Cabara is actually a bit larger than he is.