Rosamond Gifford Zoo, Syracuse , NY

Help! Each January the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse has a photo contest. I have participated in the past but last year I never managed to get my butt out to the zoo. As I stated in an earlier post this week, I planned to change my image capture dry spell this weekend with a last weekend opportunity to capture some images of the cool residents of the zoo.

Although it was the end of our month at work and I had to spend the morning getting parts out the door. I got back home around noon, changed my clothes, loaded up the camera and lenses, and hopped in the car for the hour drive to Syracuse. There were a few clouds in the sky but the sun managed to make an appearance a few times as I wandered the grounds of the zoo. Temperatures were in the low 40’s which made it a glove free time outside.  I had a great time!

Before my luck changed I made the rounds on the outdoor path to see who was out and about. There were a lot of chances to photograph the animals. I just need more practice at moving objects. Some of those critters just didn’t want to sit still for me.

I was smart this trip (and due to my change to the Olympus mirrorless system) I brought everything I might need in my messenger bag. This allowed my to switch lenses as the need arose. Some of those compounds let the animals escape us “shooters” by laying down a long way away. I was very happy with the performance of my 40-150mm lens (which is 80-300mm equivalent). Also, the 12-40mm f/2.8 lens let me get a fast enough shutter inside which I have struggled with in the past. I will also say that the internal stabilization of the E-M1 camera let me capture at a much lower shutter than I could with my old Nikon cameras.

Now for what I need your help with. I can submit two images for the photo contest. I narrowed down my choices to the following five. I would really appreciate everyone’s thoughts as to their favorites. If you can let me know in the comments which ones catch your eye then I will submit the two with the most votes. Thanks for helping me!

Resting
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R, 1/200s, 40mm, f/5.6, ISO 200

Sleep
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R, 1/125s, 150mm, f/5.6, ISO 200

Spying
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R, 1/160s, 145mm, f/5.6, ISO 200

Deep in Thought
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/30s, 40mm, f/2.8, ISO 1600

Stare
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/160s, 32mm, f/2.8, ISO 1600