Love It!

An old picture from the Lowry Park Zoo. I was there with my son Jason a couple years ago.
We went up the ramp to feed the giraffes crackers. After Jason fed this one, he turned to me.
I threw my camera up and clicked off a shot. No aiming, just click. This is what I got.
It remains probably my favorite zoo shot.

Asian Gardens Tutorial

I may have mentioned how much I love the Asian Gardens at the Lowry Park Zoo.
The gardens are superbly landscaped. They have these incredible statues everywhere.

I really like the way they look and appreciate the atmosphere they bring to the gardens,
but I really thought the photos should look more 'ancient', so to speak.
So, I played around with editing and came up with these.


I always edit in photoshop, results as seen in the first photo. Then, I ran the Pioneer Woman's Action Set #2
Heartland action, followed by MCPActions' Frosted Memories - Faded Edges, Low Res action. These are the results.


I really love the way these turned out!




I think the statues look ancient. Like something you'd see in a history book!


That is totally the look I was going for. Super easy!

Lowry Park Zoo

The Lowry Park Zoo is my favorite place to go take photos. Normally there are a lot of babies.
Not true on this particular trip. This beautiful primate, known as a mandrill, was located in the Asian Gardens.

My favorite primate is the Wolf's Guenon, also in the Asian Gardens.

Yesterday, I talked with a blog friend living in Malaysia. She has wolf's guenons living in her neighborhood.
These little guys always want their picture taken. They pose for the cameras :).

Normally the black and white colobuses are good for a couple babies, but not on this trip.

Also in the Asian Gardens (can you tell that was my favorite part of the zoo?) are the nicobar pigeons.
They aren't so excited about my camera. I love their rich colors!

A cownose stingray. What a name - haha! but it fits.

Lionfish. Isn't he pretty?

Here you have an American Bald Eagle. This particular one is at the Lowry Park Zoo because it only has one wing.

I did not look up the official name for this guy. We have an abundance of these where I live. Our very own alligator.
I'd just as soon see them at the zoo instead of out on our lakes and waterways. Sorry, guys, nothing personal.
Well, maybe it is personal. I just don't care for the alligators. At all.

This is a gopher tortoise. We have a bunch of these, too. Sometimes in our yard. We used to have a dog who would
literally go find these and bring them to our porch. What a hoot! We'd put the turtle back in it's hole, and the dog
would go get it and bring it back to the porch. I guess he just liked them :).

Well, I learned something. I thought these were just 'flamingo's, but apparenty they are a special kind. They are Caribbean Flamingos. Who knew?

And there you have just a few of the pictures I brought home from the Lowry Park Zoo. If you ever get the chance to go there, be sure to take a camera.

You can see some of my earlier posts on the Lowry Park Zoo here, here, here, here, here, and here. This last one was a good day for babies :).

Watching the Wildlife

I love this shot from the Lowry Park Zoo. Jason was taking pictures with his new camera and wanted me to feed the giraffe so he could get a shot up close. I spent $2.00 for one cracker. The giraffes have really long tongues and they eat those crackers in a big hurry. I held out the cracker, the giraffe slurped it up, I heard Jason take his photo, then I threw my camera up and jabbed the button - lol. I had no idea if the giraffe was even in the frame. This was my result and I love it!

Looking a little more normal. They have the neatest eyelashes.

This owl did not like me and refused to look right at me. I'd get in front of him and he'd turn his head the opposite direction. I'd walk over there to get a photo and he'd turn back to the first position. I learned to shoot as I walked past :O).

A beautiful Okapi. I think it's neat how he looks like a cross between a zebra and a horse.
* * * * * * * * *
Now, more babies from the zoo. They were really my priority. I already posted shots and a video of the white tiger twin cubs.

Black and white colobus monkeys.

These are squirrel monkeys. Not a great shot - I had to take it through two mesh fences. The blob on the mother's back is actually a fairly new baby. It had very little fur. The baby was so new the zoo wasn't even mentioning it yet.

Photos above and below are of a Mandrill and her baby. They are relations to the baboon. Awesome colors on the mom's face. The baby didn't want to get too far from mom's side, but you can see him peeking around her in the top shot.

Right in the middle of the shot, you can see a tamarin baby. Again, I was shooting through fencing. This baby was trying to explore a bit on its own, but the mom was having none of that. Everytime the baby got out on the tree itself, the mom snatched it up and put it back in a box at the back of the enclosure.

Baby ring-tailed lemur. Look at the mom to the right in the photo. You can see the baby sitting in her lap. Its head is right under the mom's arm, then going down you can see its back, its left leg pulled up, and one little arm hanging on. Both lemurs had babies, but after about 30 shots I found that this was the best photograph I got.

Here is baby Randee, an orangutan. I showed her in a previous post. Here, Randee was playing with another orangutan that was hiding under the canvas. They were a lot of fun to watch. The zookeepers give them clothes and pieces of fabric to play with. When Kali and I were at the zoo 2-3 weeks ago, Randee's mom had a red t-shirt she carried everywhere. On this trip, she still had the red shirt, you just can't see it in this photo. Supposedly, the cloth helps calm the orangutans and gives them something to play with.

These babies were living in a pond in the hyenas enclosure. I wouldn't think that would be a prime place for raising babies. Maybe that's why the mom has them so hidden in this bush at waterside.

These last photos are just some random shots I took. The Lowry Park Zoo is an incredible zoo. They spent a lot of time landscaping the enclosures and adjacent areas to mimic the native homes of the animals. This is a great homeschool field trip, if you get the chance, or a great trip for anyone who really loves animals and specifically animal babies!

White Tiger Twin Cubs

See some photos of these little guys in the following post. If you live near Tampa, you can see them at the Lowry Park Zoo in the Asian Gardens.

White Tiger Twin Cubs

Aren't they precious? These little tiger cubs live at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa with their mom. They were so much fun to watch playing, chasing, climbing, and jumping on each other. They've grown a good bit since I saw them about a month ago.

Zoo Finale

These are the remaining photos from the Lowry Park Zoo. I mentioned before that this is rated one of the top three zoos in the country. I've shown you some of the wonderful animals that live there. Now I want to show the extra steps the zoo took to really make this place stand out. The landscaping and architecture really set it apart. In the above shot, Kali is standing next to the entrance to the Asian Gardens, probably our favorite part of the zoo.

If you want a beautiful picture, click on the above shot and take it to full-screen.
This is a beautiful garden that surrounds a small lake. It was dedicated in remembrance of those in your life that you love.
This is the entrance to the Safari Africa part of the zoo.

I believe the above was in Wallaroo Station.
Kali was still fighting a cold at this point. Of course, she perked right up when we got to the cute little penguins :O). I am including a video clip of that - sorry it's sideways. I have no idea how to fix it now that I took it the wrong way :(. Thanks for visiting the Lowry Park Zoo with us!