And here’s a few photos you might not have seen

Late in 2011 we spent some time at the South Lakes Wild Animal Park . They had a open weekend when it was free to visit, so along we went. We’ve been before and do appreciate the open layout of the park. Macaws fly free, lemurs roam in huge open areas alongside tourists and emus watch you from a distance, approaching you at their leisure.  It’s a good and reliable environment to test new photography equipment. It was, therefore, one of the locations chosen to test my new Canon 7D and our new 70-300mm Canon L lens.

I spent a lot of time with the Macaws which perched high in the trees towering above the park. That’s when I captured the shot above. I managed to frame the concealed macaw through a gap in the branches and chose my moment.

The image below is a close up of a lemur. It was as curious about me and I was of it. The mutual trust between human and animal allowed me to capture this portrait.

We do find that taking picture of animals in captivity is a good way to hone skills and practise ahead of any big photography trip we’re planning. Other test shots taken in captivity are available in our on-line ’captive gallery’.