Animal

I have taken more animal shots over the past few years that any other subject.  Most of these shots have come from Zoo visits, although I have  a reasonable amount of “wild” animal shots, too.  As this year’s challenges cover such a diverse set of photography techniques and subjects, I have decided to keep the animal photography challenges relatively simple (and hopefully not too difficult to complete).    It’s fair to say that this is my “comfort” category.  At least, I hope it will be.

Easy – Make 4 Zoo Trips

Starting off with what should be the simplest challenge to complete.  Four trips to the same zoo, or four trips to four zoos – it doesn’t matter.  It’s the quantity of trips that counts.  In order to complete this challenge I need to return from each trip with at least one good image to class the trip as successful.

Medium – Visit A New Zoo

I have been to a few Zoos around the UK, but there are many more that I have yet to set foot in.  This challenge is designed to stretch my legs, as well as my creativity.  I need to find a Zoo that I’ve never been to before and come away with at least one decent image.

Hard – 3 Wild Animal Shots

As much fun as Zoo photography is, it really doesn’t compare to capturing images of animals in the wild.  Surely that shouldn’t be so hard?  I don’t need to go on an African Safari to capture wild animals shots, I could just snap a few bugs and creepy-crawlies in my back garden, right?  Wrong.  There’s a caveat to this challenge that states:  the wild animal in question must be equal to or larger than a brown rat.  So, all insects are out, small birds won’t qualify, and I’d even be hard pushed to accept shots of wild rabbits (although, to be fair, I probably would accept them in the end).  That’s what puts it into the “hard” range.