Animals!! - July Theme - Random

Well this is the last of my animal pictures and these are pretty random (and few in number).

This is actually a miniature horse outside of Brownwood, Texas. He was very friendly and came right up to the fence to check out my camera, but I think he was a little disappointed that I didn't have any food to give him. This picture was taken with a cheap film camera that had a fish-eye lens permanently attached.

In Dallas, Texas there is a huge open air market where you can find everything from tinting for your car to the latest in fashion (at a discount, of course) and especially small pets and pet supplies. These lovelies caught my eye because it would seem that there is a little love triangle going on here, either that or the female has two males vying for her attentions. Either way, I found it adorable and snapped a picture with my phone.

Aww the New Mexico Deer, they were always fun to see (just not crossing the road right in front of you at night), a small herd of them allowed me to photograph them as they were grazing and making their way down the mountain.

"Hey whatchoo' lookin' at?"

I call this one my "derp deer" because I managed to capture him mid-chew and his expression looks so silly. 

I told you these posts would be short due to my lack of animal photography stock. I am not at home right now so I don't remember what the theme for August will be but I'm pretty sure I will have more pictures than this month.
As always, I appreciate any comments, tips, or criticisms that you deem to bestow on me so that I may continue to gain experience and bring you better and better pictures in the future!

Animals!! - July Theme - Puppies!!

Sorry for the late post, it has been a busy last few days with finals coming up and my boyfriend coming home from over seas. I will do my very best to be on time with my posts in the future!

Okay so this week we are looking at "man's best friend" the dog.

Once again I had to go digging for pictures of dogs so some are from old cameras and camera phones.

We shall start with Josie.

Josie is the baby puppy, by the way, Marla (a pit bull mix) was the proud momma and Rocky (a bull mastiff/boxer mix) was the papa. She was the same size as her momma by the time she was 6 months old when we had to give her up for adoption. She was spunky and loved to run and play. 

Marla was a good momma. 

More of Marla now, I couldn't find any good pictures (non-blurry) of Josie before we gave her up for adoption all I have are the two from when we brought her home from the vet. 

Marla loved to cuddle with people, when she wasn't allowed on the couch, she would sit or lay on your feet. 

She was a reluctant subject for me when I first started playing around with photography.

Her favorite spot on the couch.

After a good run in the park. A happy dog is a tired dog someone once said.

This is probably my favorite picture of her. 

Watching the other dogs and people from the balcony. 

This is Ruby (a golden retriever) she is my parent's dog. Dad likes to say she is his "other" red-headed daughter. 

She loves to be outside in the grass, rolling around on her back. Watching over her domain.

She plays hard with her toys and then conks out into a deep sleep, filled with dreams of chasing things and protecting her family. 

I know that when I get another puppy of my own I will take her to the dog parks so get her properly socialized and I will take my camera to get more pictures of her and other puppies playing. I know a professional photographer that does just that and he comes away with some really fun pictures. Here is a link to his website/blog if you are interested in his work. He also does high school sporting events and senior photos.

As always I hope you enjoyed my pictures and I encourage you to leave me comments, tip, and criticisms so that I can continue to get better at capturing the beautiful world around me.

Animals!! - July Theme - Oklahoma City

A few years ago (when I was still living in Texas) I came up to Oklahoma to visit my parents for Mother's Day. While I was there we decided to go to the Oklahoma City Zoo because I had not been and it would be something fun to do as a family while I was in town. For this trip I had a simple point and shoot digital camera but I think most of the pictures still turned out pretty good.

This little guy was just too cute and I was so happy to get this with out very much glare or reflection on the glass. 

Same with Mr. Frog, just too cute and super green (which is my favorite color) and no reflections!

This Hippo was taking a nap in a muddy puddle and just looked really sweet, even though Hippos are one of Earth's most dangerous animals.I think he was a either a really young Hippo or a pygmy Hippo because he was rather small.

Another living tank but don't worry, it was hot that day and he was just taking a nap. 

While waiting to see the new baby elephant I saw these geese and their little baby (who was nervous about jumping down that cliff into the water) the adult geese just kept swimming close to the edge and honking at the baby to jump in. After a little bit of courage-gathering the baby finally made it in the water and followed it's parents all around the little water pond. 

Speaking of baby elephant, this little guy was super cute as the two females stood over him to protect him and encourage him to stand on his own feet (he rolled around for a bit trying to get up). 

"Ahh, I'm telling you... this is the life..."

This guy was pretty active but the glass looking into the enclosure was pretty cloudy, making it hard to get a good picture.

The King, looking over his domain... 

Sometimes you just want to be left alone. 

It was getting close to feeding time so this big cat was prowling, looking for it's next meal.

"Oh hey there, don't mind me I'm just taking a nap..." 

I always find it amusing how often animals take naps.

This big guy wasn't too concerned about napping, he was taking a lap around the "lake" in his enclosure.

If a bear is doing it, is it still called the "doggie paddle"?

Little kids love it when the animals get close to the glass because then they can see up close just how BIG they are. Their eyes get big with wonder and amazement, placing their hands up next to the bear paws. 

I have heard of lucky fountains, lucky cats and lucky underwear but I was surprised to see this dinosaur basking in the sun with coins littering the ground below him. Almost resembles a dragon protecting his hoard of treasure with his body.

And once again, nap time. Much like her smaller descendants, this big  cat found a small space and has contorted her body to fit and now slumbers on.

Well this one really isn't an animal (hello Captain Obvious) but I loved the little specks of color in the wings and the velvety blackness. This beauty got trapped in my parent's garage, so after posing for me I managed to catch him and release him into their backyard which is full of flowers for him to enjoy. 

I hope you enjoyed my pictures. I highly recommend anyone and everyone to visit your local zoo, especially if you have children in your family (zoos are something that are never really forgotten... unless you take infants and toddlers, they won't remember a thing).

Please leave comments, tips, or criticism so that I may continue to learn as I share the world with you!

July Theme - Animals!!

So when I decided to have animals as my theme this month, I went looking to see what all I had and to pick out the best of the best. Turns out that I really don't have very many pictures of animals (something I will have to work on more, I guess), so this first post will probably have the most pictures and the rest will be shorter.

To start this off I went with the animals from my trip to Florida's Busch Gardens.

This dragon was huge and just laying there right where I could get a good picture, not bad to start out the visit. 

Even though the Flamingos were rather pungent, they were still very beautiful and full of character.

I loved the variation of color in this handsome fella (at least I think he was a guy).

You could pay extra and go on a mock safari driving around the huge enclosures and could even hand feed some of the animals. 

There is also a train that goes all around the park with several "train stations" and it would cut through some of the enclosures, giving its riders a view sans the fences. 

Giraffes are amazingly beautiful creatures.

These are some kind of deer that would stand absolutely stone still whenever they felt threatened or watched. Their stillness afforded me a couple great shots of them as we passed on the train.

This was one of the best pictures I got of any animal through the glass, with very little reflection or hand prints. 

There were two different enclosures for the tigers and the walkway went between them so the tigers could see each other through the windows and would play an amusing game of chase from window to window. 

If you have never been up close to one of these big cats let me assure you that they live up to their name, they are very big. 

I have always liked the elephants, maybe because they are so very big but they almost remind me of huge dogs, in the way that I get the sense that they are very loving animals.

These are Asian elephants (see how small their ears are) but I still think they are great.

Ah, Darwin's tortoises (not really) it amazes me how old these big guys can get and how they manage to survive despite how slow they move around.

 Every time I see Hyenas, I can't help but think of Disney's The Lion King. 

Speaking of Lions...

We didn't see any male Lions and by the time we made it this far it was after feeding time so everyone was taking naps in the shade. 

Another dinosaur just laying around waiting for me to take his picture.

Another kind of deer, I got this one from the sky-tram (which was really nice, I would recommend it to everyone who goes to Busch Gardens).

Nothing to see here folks, just a living tank that's all... 

Baby tank and Momma tank. 

There was also a Black Rhino but he had his own island that separated him from the rest of the place (they are the really aggressive ones).

There were several monkey enclosures but in typical fashion most only wanted to show me their butts.

These guys were a little bit more accommodating in their poses for my camera. 

All in all, there were some really beautiful and amazing animals at Busch Gardens and I highly encourage everyone to try to visit at least once in their lifetime.

I hope you enjoyed these as much as I enjoy sharing them. As always, I encourage you to leave a comment, tip, or criticism so that I may continue to learn and get better at capturing this wonderful world that we live in!