The Tale of Two Zoos
Spring is here and adventures are bound !
So I thought what better way to follow up from my whale watch than by going to The Stone Zoo and then a few days later going to The Franklin Park Zoo ! I had a great time at both, and would recommend either, unfortunately some of the animals at The Franklin Park Zoo weren't out yet at the time of my visit, such as the giraffes, due to the still chilly weather. Also, unfortunately I won't be able to post all the great images I got so I'll be highlighting my favorites and share the rest elsewhere, so let's begin..
Things were in bloom, the weather was nice and it had been a long winter so it was time to get back outside and have some more adventures. I started with The Stone Zoo mainly because it was closer and more convenient to visit. I hadn't been to the Zoos around Boston in a very long time, so I wasn't sure what to expect.
There were quite a few interesting exhibits at The Stone Zoo, such as this Jaguar, unfortunately I won't speak too much about it mainly because due to their cages and viewing areas, I found it difficult to get high quality images, and well, that's what this is all about, the images. But for viewing and experience, there's a great amount to see and some awesome exhibits, just not too friendly to my lens. But probably the best thing they had was the open air bird show, which is very entertaining as well as informative.
You take a seat, listen to some really tacky kid music for a few minutes and next thing you know a Bald Eagle swoops over you head seemingly out of nowhere. This was their Bird Show, which they do a few times a day at certain times which you can find on their website. The birds fly on their own and are not restricted or caged in by any sort. It's a much better viewing experience than watching these amazing creatures only cooped up in a cage.
They have a wide variety of birds that they bring out for the show, from small birds to large, and quite a few talented ones as well.
This show is also a great time to get some close up shots of the animals without cages or glass in your way. There's also some interactive parts as well, but I'll let you experience the show yourself to get the whole story, but it's definitely worth seeing if you're at The Stone Zoo.
For the sake of time and also the lack of the images that I deem of a high quality, that's it for The Stone Zoo, but again I want to state, it's not due to a lack of exhibitions, rather the difficult photographic challenges to get images of high technical quality.
So a few days following my trip to The Stone Zoo, I thought I might visit The Franklin Park Zoo as well, seeing as I haven't been there since I was toddler, or so I've been told..
It was a beautiful day for an adventure as I arrived at The Franklin Park Zoo. I got my ticket and first thing I saw was a couple of Zebras rolling around in the distance making a big cloud of dust. I had a good feeling and went off to the first exhibit I wanted to see; The Tigers.
Ever since I was a small child the White Bengal Tiger had always been my favorite animal without question. I haven't seen one in a very long time before this, and attempted to while I was in Miami, as they have one at the Zoo Miami, but unfortunately he was ill at the time of my visit and not out.
I could sit there and watch these magnificent creatures all day. But there was much more to see, such as the first photo in the blog of the Peacock, which was wandering freely around The Franklin Park Zoo. So I said my goodbyes and headed off to continue my adventure.
I eventually ended up in the indoor Gorilla Exhibit which was very cool, and this was one of my favorite images; Gorilla=1 Human=0. They had quite a bit of exhibits on the inside that were pretty cool, but hard to photograph with the low light levels.
I then came across another of my favorite animals; the lemur. These guys are just awesome characters. They're always very expressive and active, and they love the camera too.
And even better, they just had 2 twin lemur babies that were only 1 month old. They were adorable. I watched them for a few then they started to feed and I was off to see what else there was.
I didn't get too far till I came across my next interest; the Ocelot. It's a small animal and very cute, the famous artist Salvador Dali actually kept one of these as a pet. Plus how cool of a name is Ocelot ? Reminds me of my Metal Gear Solid days... Anyways, on we go.
And we'll end it with a very cool baboon that I forgot the actual name of, but he looked like the one from Lion King. It was very dark and difficult to get a good shot, but patience paid off as it usually does and I got it.
So these are some of the highlights from my Zoo adventures ! I wouldn't have enough time or space to talk about everything, so I highly suggest you check these guys out for yourself in person ! It's a great day out and great cause to support.
I hope you enjoyed the images and some of my experiences and that maybe you'll go experience it for yourself as well,
Until the next Adventure,
Sean Gold signing off.
A Spring Afternoon in Boston and The Public Gardens
Hey there, welcome back for my third post, which will somewhat be a continuation from my last post, A Whales Tale.
So first, to jump back a little bit, not too far, just the day before this Sunday. So on the Saturday before, I visited the Public Gardens for the first time this Spring and all the flowers were tightly closed, rolled in their buds. I was wondering when they would explode with their beauty, days, weeks ? None the less they were still worth taking a few shots of.
So now we fast forward back to the day in question, Sunday after the Whale Watch.
We got back and docked in Boston around 2 O'clock and that left plenty of daylight to explore with. My destination was the Public Gardens, but I thought I'd take the scenic route and see a few things on the way, so I headed up through Faneuil Hall, past Government Center and stopped at some of the old historic cemeteries.
I enjoyed the sense of history there for a few then headed on up till I reached the Boston Commons, to where I went up Park Street towards the State House and headed for Beacon Hill. I wandered those streets for a while aimlessly, just enjoying the sweet Spring moment.
After I had enough of that it was time to get my bearings back and make haste for The Public Gardens. And if you were wondering for what reason I jumped back to the previous day in the beginning of the post, it's because as soon as I reached The Gardens, I saw that almost all the flowers were in full bloom, as if simply overnight the world came even more alive.
The gardens were buzzing with life, like an oasis in a mechanical and concrete dessert, a refuge from the hustle of everyday life. There were marriages, singers, bands, artists, and plenty of other "photographers" with their pop up flashes going off in the midst of the day. It was so much to take in, I began making my laps, first observing a man painting the flowers near one of the main entrances. I believe he was using chalk or some sort of pastels, but it was beautiful.
After this I made a few more laps, took a few more photos, then my tiredness had started to take it's toll. I ended up wandering to the edge of the pond and just laying down on the grass, sans blanket or towel, watching the world go by. After about 15 minutes I threw my backpack behind my head and with the warm sun on my face, the cool grass below me, decided I'd take a nap right there in the Gardens.
I awoke about 45 minutes later to some ducks quacking next to me and figured it was time to stop being lazy and move on. As I got up I noticed there was a woman painting right near me and decided to watch her for a little. I always wished I could paint but I oddly never had the dexterity for it, although my hand eye co-ordination is rather spectacular, drawing and painting has always eluded me, which is why I use a camera. I always feel that I photograph as an artist, or a painter, rather than a photographer. Not always what it is, but what I see it to be.
I began roaming the Gardens once again trying to find "THE" shot for the day, but it was hard to not get lost in the beauty of it all and forget to photograph it.
Time was drifting by and I felt it was time to start wrapping things up and get ready to head back home. That was until I saw this beautiful tree, surprisingly void of people and at just the right moment a breeze blew through and took all the white petals and fluttered them about, as in a Japanese Samurai movie during a duel. It was spectacular, and it was "THE" shot I was looking for, as the petals danced about breeze.
From there I decided I'd head up to Boylston Street and grab a couple bagels at Finagle A' Bagel before I departed. On my way back I came across one of the memorials for the victims of Marathon Bombing. I paid my respects and then headed off.
As I headed back through the Gardens, and the Commons, I reflected on what a beautiful day it had been, and all the great images I had captured. I wish I lived right in Boston next to the Gardens so that I could do that every day for the Spring, because I'm too lazy otherwise.
There's still time to enjoy Spring time in the Gardens and Boston in general so get on out there and enjoy life and the beauty of it all !
Until next time,
Sean Gold signing off.
A Whales Tale
So here begins my second blog post, and already I'm off by a day, but with good cause. What I'll posting about is on what I did yesterday, which was going Whale Watching to kick off the Spring time in New England, and take some fun photos.
Batteries charged, lenses cleaned, accessories packed and out the door by 9:00 Sunday morning. I haven't been whale watching since I was a child and don't remember it well anyways, so I wasn't sure what to expect.
Things started off a little rocky when I was lead to believe that the boat had left before I had arrived by someone who shall not be named, and the day appeared to have ended before it began. But as you can imagine they jumped to conclusions, scared me half to death, and the boat was on the other side of the dock. So we boarded the craft and the voyage began.
It was about an hour out to where the whales were grouping so we mostly chatted and attempted to fight off sea sickness, some better than others unfortunately, till we got out there. Then the boat came to what seemed like a gearing halt and immediately following the captain announced the first whale has been spotted starboard of the craft.
Lenses were switched hastily, and I ran to the upper deck to get a look. All I saw for the first few minutes was a vast expanse of nothing but glistening ocean. All seemed calm and empty till a blast of water shot up followed by a large fin. It was a Finback whale, second largest only to the Blue whale, skimming near the top of the water. The shutter was firing, then he submerged once again, and now it was my prerogative to anticipate where this bus sized creature would surface next.
I then spotted him again feeding just below the surface of the water with his cave sized mouth open. I was able to see his eye, which was about the size of a softball. And was once again in awe of nature and the complexity that we are surrounded by on this planet, as I stared at this tractor-trailer sized behemoth only a couple hundred feet away from me that feeds on some of the smallest food sources out there.
We trolled along for another few hours seeing mostly Finback and Humpback whales, a few up close, more a bit off in the distance. There was a lot of great viewing, unfortunately there were no epic "OMG" moments, such as a full body breach (jump) or anything like that, belittling of my constant attempts at Aquaman-like telekinesis wishing them to do so.
So our time was running out and it was time to head back to port. The ride back was much more enjoyable than going out, mostly because we were going with the wind, rather than against it, as on the way out. We were satisfied with the trip, even though there was nothing uber visually spectacular, but in the scheme of things, considering it was my first trip when most go on dozens to get "that shot", I think it was rather successful.
We made it back to port in Boston and then the question was "Do I call it a day and go home, or take advantage of this beautiful day and explore Boston in the Spring?" So my friend and I parted ways promptly and I was off around the city, just me and my camera. Since that was it's own adventure by itself, that will probably be my next post, so to give a teaser to that, I'll throw in one photo from a part of that adventure from The Public Gardens.
Until next time,
Sean Gold signing off.
Beauty/Fashion Portrait Shoot with Ashley Price
So this will be the start to my new ambition of blogging often and consistently of what's happening in my life behind the shutter.
So this shoot was conceived as an absolute test with a new lighting system and setup that I've never used before, with just a hopeful vision in mind as to what it may produce. Luckily, the lovely Ashley Price was game to be my test subject, even with the chance of utter failure. (Maybe not utter, but you get the idea)
My main vision for this shoot was beauty type headshots and perhaps a few fashion type 3/4 shots and then experimenting with whatever else to see what worked and what didn't while we had the chance. So she showed up pretty much on time with her suitcase of clothes, accessories, and who knows what else, but it was rather heavy, and I knew this was going to be fun. So we got everything inside and got things setup and then began firing off the test shots so we could both get a feel for the setup. Luckily, Ashley is an amazing model so I didn't have to focus much on coaching her and was able to focus mainly on my lighting, which was a huge relief.
After the first few shots were taken and the settings were solid and consistent I could start to see that my predictions were pretty accurate and that the lighting and setup was amazing for the headshots and great for 3/4's but not so much for full bodies, as expected, but as in life, and especially photography, you never know what you're going to get until you try.
We hammered on, look after look, outfit after outfit, pose after pose, with the occasional goofy face to keep things fresh and loose. And after about half way through, I couldn't wait to get rid of her so I could process these images and see them really come to life as I had imagined them, since we had already got some amazing exposures much sooner than I expected. But then I remembered I had soccer after anyways and wouldn't be processing till that night regardless, so we turned up the house music and kept on shooting.
It finally got close to the time for my soccer game, plus the "talent" hadn't been fed and started feeling the effects of that so it seemed like a good time to call it a wrap and transfer the images over to have a quick peak at what we created. We both glared at the screen in excitement as the images were better than I think either of us expected, to be honest.
So to wrap up this story and my first blog post, everything turned out better than expected (As things often seem to do) but only because of the effort and planning put in by both parties. It doesn't matter how good you are at something, you can't do it all yourself, you need a good balance of responsibilities and good communication with your team, regardless if it's a team of 2 or 20.
So on that note, I'd just like to thank Ashley for being a great person to work with, not to mention a very talented model and aspiring make up artist, of which she did all her own styling, outfits, and makeup, by herself.
So thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed what you read and saw and if there's any comments or advice feel free to let me know what you think !
Until next time,
Sean Gold, signing off.
