Zoo Babies

Wednesday I went to the zoo. We have a season pass, so I like to pop over there, after work, now and then. Besides, I had a motive this time. I wanted to start taking pictures for a little book I hope to put together for Robert - maybe for his first birthday. It will be a book of zoo animals.

What a great day to be at the zoo! It was chilly, for Albuquerque - about 45 degrees - and overcast. New Mexicans don't like to be out in such "bad" weather. I felt like it was my private park! Here are a couple pictures of the grassy area in the center of the zoo. Usually it's full of people.



Maybe it's my Alaskan blood, but 45 degrees is really nice when you're walking around a lot. The clouds didn't bother me and, as a bonus, the animals were much more active than on a hot day.

I was delighted to get to see three zoo babies. One of them has been in the news a lot for the past four months or so. That would be the baby Asian elephant, Daizy. Sixteen year old Rozie gave birth to Daizy, who weighed 318 pounds, on September 2.


The second zoo baby I saw was the giraffe, Mosi, who was born on May 21.


And, finally, there was a baby zebra. I don't know when he was born or what his name is, but he's getting pretty big. Not too big too nurse, though. I watched him have his afternoon snack.


This excursion was also a test for my new camera. No, actually it was a test for me using my new camera. In some ways I passed. I found it was not too heavy to tromp around with at the zoo. I was quite comfortable with it hanging around my neck. But I wasn't thrilled with the pictures. For some reason the color didn't come out good (had a purplish hue). I've already taken quite a few pictures on sunny days that were beautiful. But the cloudy weather threw me off, I guess. I'll need to do some more reading. Anyone out there a D-SLR pro who might want to take a look at some of the pictures and give me some advice?

Hopefully, though, I can adjust the images in Photoshop and make them usable for Robert's little book. If not . . . there'll always be another day at the zoo.

[PS - I'm glad my husband reads my blog. "I remember, with film cameras, that you'd get a purplish hue if you accidentally took outdoor pictures with film that was made for incandescent lighting. That's what your pictures look like to me." Ah-ha! That's all it took for me to realize that I had my white balance set, yep, for "incandescent light." I don't think I'll make THAT mistake again. Luckily, the pictures clean up pretty nicely in Photoshop.]