At The Zoo

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. "I just hate paparazzi!"
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

After some months without updates, Fotograma finally brings you the new Month’s Gallery with a selection of captive animal images done by me at Tierpark Hellabrunn (Munich Zoo), at Refúgio Bela Vista and Bird Park (Iguassu Falls) and at São Paulo Zoo (the latter done during a field trip as part of the bird photography course that I taught last week at Avistar 2007).

Check them out!

Despite offering no glamour or healthy challenges brought by wildlife photography in natural environments, photographing at zoos can be a quite interesting and fun experience. The fact that the animals are totally habituated to human presence and in urban areas which are quickly accessed makes the photographers’ work much easier in many aspects. In addition, the gathering of species from all continents in a single area offers an almost inexistent opportunity for the vast majority of nature photographers, of registering critters whose original home is located many miles, days and dollars away.

The difficulties include being able to compose an interesting scene of an animal inside an artificial enclosure and simultaneously eliminate from the photo objects that could give away the place where the creatures are, such as bars, glasses, sawn wood, mowed lawn, concrete walls and floors. The intense presence of the public also requires a lot of creativeness and patience from photographers used to the quietness of the forest.

No matter what the final results are, even if one is able to get a photo on a scenery that resembles very much a natural environment, it is ethically recommended to clearly state in the photo captions (or tell those interested in details) the fact that the image was produced in captivity.

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