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Lion II
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I’ll break my silence! Sad is the first word that comes to mind. He is thinking how much better life would be if he hadn’t a captive audience? Good and all as the pic is….. but the zoo …………anyway.
A bit like shooting pheasants on one of these “cultured” estates in Meath. Sorry but pics in the zoo is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel.
Thanks all.
Danny, I’ve been lucky enough to photograph Lions in the wild (Ngorongoro, Serengeti and Tarangire) and here’s my honest assessment on difficulty. The Lions in the zoo are much harder to photograph. Wild Lions are pretty territorial… the only time they are hard to find is that once in every 3 or so days that they go hunting. The rest of the time, they’re cooped up in one small area and usually quite accessible. In the National Parks, those areas are very well known and usually have roads/tracks running nearby. Any guide can drive blind folded to them. Would I prefer to photograph Lions in the wild? Sure, but at 4000 euros for a 12 day trip, that isn’t going to happen very often.
I’m not totally sure, but I think the ones in Dublin (and Belfast) are actually Barbary Lions. They’ve been extinct in the wild for hundreds of years. The Romans pretty much decimated the population with their games. The zoos have been pretty effective at rebuilding the population in captivity. Hopefully, one day, they can be released to the wild. Lions and Tigers are lucky enough to be able to be released, unlike Cheetahs. The problem is, though, that there’s no where to release them to. Lion populations in the wild are plummeting because we want cheaper bananas, coffee and Tulips… wild savannahs and waterways are being turned into farmland and drained like never before to sate our desire for products produced on what used to be wilderness up to 10-15 years ago. Apex predators are the first to go because of the threat they pose to invaders of their territory.
Zoos may not be perfect, but they do serve a necessary purpose. Personally, I’d prefer all of the animals to have huge enclosures like over in Longleat (BBC’s Animal Park). A zoo can only afford to improve and expand enclosures when they have funding. That funding comes from us …. the customer.
they may be in captivity but they still live like they’re in the wild. Bet they’re wide awake at night and pacing up and down. i’d say the zoo at night would be very interesting to visit. These guys do look especially sad, although not quite as sad as the silverback gorilla. Awesome shot, it’s really hard to get them in a good position with the right light. great job
SANCHO wrote:
they may be in captivity but they still live like they’re in the wild.
Thanks Sancho.
My favourite memories of Africa are from when I camped in the Serengeti for 4 nights. We had a huge pride only a mile or two away from our tents who resided on a large kopje (an ancient, eroded mountain that is nothing more than rocks on the plains). That pride caused me to not get much sleep with their endless bellowing after dark. It literally rumbles right through you and into your core. It’s done to gather a pride for a hunt or to call out territory, i.e. warn away straying cats.
The pair in the zoo bellow quite a lot, unusually so, actually. I totally get a buzz out of it when I’m standing in front of them and they roar … I can see myself back in that flimsy canvas tent in the middle of nowhere, warned not to venture outside when it is dark.
that must be a great feeling, i’d love to go on Safari. a proper one though out in the wilderness. not travelling around with a coach full of tourists. alas that’s how the world is going these days. I know everyone groans at zoo shots but i’d totally agree with you about the technical aspects. Sure more active animals are trickier to shoot in the wild as their captive counterparts can’t escape but something like a lion i’d say is no problem to shoot with a 300mm f4.
People want to bash the skill srequired for shooting a lion in a zoo…. fine … tell me which is easier … instructing a paid-for model to do what you want or wait for that split second when a potential man eater (not the model) does what you’ve been waiting for?
Why do I like shooting in the zoo and recommend it? It is great practice for anticipating movement and learning animal behaviour. I could sit in my hide for hours or even days and not get a shot worth keeping. I know that some here have sat for days and got nothing. Shooting in the zoo gives me practice which I have found valuable in shooting even garden birds.
A sharp 300 prime with a 1.4x will get most scenarios covered with wild big cats. I mostly shot between 100 and 400mm and only once took out my 1.4 x to get to a Leopard that was too far from the tracks (you’re not allowed to leave the tracks in national parks without an expensive filming license). Quite honestly, if I’d known back then as much as I do know now then I’d have gotten much better shots. What I do know was that I was in a position to get great stuff. A mother bursing a cub, adolescents playfighting, a young, newly independant male taking a wildebeest calf, a pride finishing off a carcass and then sleeping in the shade of our truck, a male mating with a female, ….. And that’s just the Lions :)
Quite honestly, the guides who do 5+ days at a time with only 2 days between trips know roughly where to find the big cats and know exactly where to find the Lions. Not only that but the guide companies probably have 50+ trucks active in the Serengeti at one time and they all talk to each other on radio, in the lodges, as they pass each other on the tracks, etc. Even I could go back to the Serengeti right now and guide you to the Meru pride and the Gol pride. There is no magic to finding Lions … they are very territorial and therefore easy to find.
Tougher to get are the Leopards and Cheetahs. Cheetahs can have huge territories and survive by being mobile. Serenget Cheetahs even migrate so that makes things harder. How do you find them? Find the Tommie gazzeles and you find the Cheetahs. Easy. Get there early and wait near the long grass. There’s a good chance you’ll find a cat coming out of the long grass not long after sunrise when the threats of the Lions and Hyenas are no longer around. Leopards? Much tougher but it depends on perserverance and looking out for the “telltail” sign hanging straight down from the limb of a tree.
Oh .. a _real_ safari is PRICEY! That’s what I did with a mate… 2 of us in the back of a Toyota Landcruiser with our guide driving. We saw all sorts of tours… from two Italians being carted around in a Rav4 that couldn’t go anywhere to Prefabs that were carring 30+ people and strapped to the back of old army lorries. Do a lot of research before you hand over a deposit. Like lenses, this is a case of “you get what you pay for” and it aint cheap. That’s why I’m not going again this year :( assumiong I don’t find a sugar mommy.
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