Gorilla at L.A. Zoo

[dalethorn]

First of 3 gorilla photos from L.A. Zoo, Dec. 12.  Taken with Pana TZ5, daylight auto-exp.

[BradSmith]

First of 3 gorilla photos from L.A. Zoo, Dec. 12.  Taken with Pana TZ5, daylight auto-exp.

Dale,
Nice shot.  I love how expressive the gorillas (and orangutans) are.    Isn't that a great exhibit?  I'm a recently retired manager for Los Angeles' Engineering Department and some of my staff managed the planning, design and construction of it.  We did 4 or 5 new exhibits there in the past 5 or 6 years, but the Gorilla exhibit is my favorite.
Brad

[dalethorn]

Dale,
Nice shot.  I love how expressive the gorillas (and orangutans) are.    Isn't that a great exhibit?  I'm a recently retired manager for Los Angeles' Engineering Department and some of my staff managed the planning, design and construction of it.  We did 4 or 5 new exhibits there in the past 5 or 6 years, but the Gorilla exhibit is my favorite.
Brad

Thank you for the work on that exhibit.  Zoos are often a target of criticism for certain exhibits (ahem), but given the quality of this one, and those poor gorillas' decreasing chances in the wild, this is not only a good opportunity for people to see them fairly close up, but a good opportunity for us to keep a few of them healthy until the day we can offer them a proper home in the wild, if that ever happens.  Your team really aced this one, since after watching them for 45 minutes or so, all I could think was how well balanced it was.  A real bonus was the different viewing positions, which I assume was really helped by the central location.

[wolfnowl]

Zoos sometimes get a bad rap, and some zoos certainly deserve it, but others are doing good work.  One example is the Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES) at the San Diego Zoo. (http://cres.sandiegozoo.org/)

This guy is a silverback, or dominant adult male.  He may be pensive, or just protective of his clan.

Mike.

Nice shot. I love how expressive the gorillas (and orangutans) are.  

Well, from an evolutionary perspective gorillas and humans evolved from a common ancestor within the past few million years - a nanosecond in the annals of time.

[bretedge]

Perfect exposure and an interesting expression, Dale.  I would prefer to see the gorilla a bit more off-center.  It feels a little bit static as-is.

[dalethorn]

Perfect exposure and an interesting expression, Dale.  I would prefer to see the gorilla a bit more off-center.  It feels a little bit static as-is.

I know what ya mean - I was looking at the background and the slant to the wall, and the off-center split between the colors, and ignored the gorilla.  Maybe next time.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I would crop some off the right side, to a point between the two dark stripes on the right-hand wall.

Nice image!

[dalethorn]

I would crop some off the right side, to a point between the two dark stripes on the right-hand wall.

Nice image!

Unfortunately, that doesn't work.  Because of the 3 x 2 perspective, cropping that much off the right (about 21 percent) brings the already-large gorilla much closer to where it dominates everything, so even the scenery on the left is much less relevant.  Not what you'd expect instinctively, but you'd have to do the prints both ways to see the effect.  This photo would need more background added on the left.