It’s classic photo Tuesday, and we’re moving into me learning to take control of the camera. Welcome to aperture priority!
May 9, 2008. 50mm, 1/80, f/1.8.
The first zoo trip as I was getting serious with the camera, to Como Zoo in St. Paul, where I don’t go very often. At this point I’m controlling all my settings, but not very well. I’m drunk on my fast prime, and never thinking of using it at any aperture but wide open. Nor am I paying attention to much of anything except where I point the camera. But that’s OK, because sometimes something like this shows up and begins the process of developing a style.
This was also my first venture in heavy postprocessing, because the original background here is a completely awful yellow-green. I’d no doubt do it much differently today, but I really like the blue cast that I ended up with five years ago. It really brings out the ear hair, and makes the zebra look extra-creepy in the print. This is one of the first commercial prints of my own photos I ever got, and it still hangs in our living room. Newer photos have had more priority in my own printing, and I haven’t gotten around to replacing it.