Day Cruise on the Brig Niagara (September 2009)

Day Cruise on the Brig Niagara in September of 2009.

Animals at the Erie Zoo: Samantha the Gorilla, Queen of the Zoo

Samantha, the Gorilla, arrived at the Erie Zoo in 1992. She is often seen hugging a small stuffed monkey, which she treats like her baby, as seen in the top photo.

Samantha may still be mourning her long-term mate who died just a few years ago. In some of the photographs published in Picasa, she looked somewhat depressed, eyes cast downward. Samantha also spent a lot of time tweezing her eyebrows, staring at them, and popping them in her mouth. She also did a lot of scratching, making us laugh when I said, "I think she ate a flea!"

Most of the time Samantha completely ignored the visitors watching her, especially those of us with cameras. She kept to herself, sitting in a sunny corner of her cage, occasionally picking up and hugging the dirty, matted, stuffed monkey. Although I believe I was able to capture several interesting photos (considering they were through a glass window), I left the exhibit feeling a bit sad for Samantha's loneliness.

Animals at the Erie Zoo: Reflections/White Tiger Exhibit and Others

REFLECTIONS: One of Khloe's favorite exhibits at the Erie Zoo, the hairless or naked water rats, is the top photo in this series. Her doting aunt and uncle are reflected in the exhibit glass.

My favorite, the Red Deer, didn't mind the camera getting "up close and personal."

The Llamas were quite people-friendly, and came right up to the fencing surrounding the exhibit.

One of the donkeys played with a rubber toy during our visit to the exhibit.

The Polar Bear was very protective...and snarled during our entire stop at the exhibit.

One of the two Warthogs was giving us the "evil eye."

The Rhino kept rubbing its head on the tree stump and nudging it around the exhibit.

Reflection/White Tiger Exhibit, or "Let Me Out!":

The bottom photo captured the reflected image of the little girl next to me touching the outside of the cage.

DOCUMENTARY Assignment, At the Erie Zoo

Documentary Assignment: At the Erie Zoo on the last day of winter.

This assignment, to take 50 photos of a documentary subject, caused me to scratch my head. Who in my world would allow me to take so many photographs and still stay on good terms with me? I then thought of my grand-niece, Khloe Grace, age 1-1/2. Her mom agreed to lend her to us for an afternoon trip to the Erie Zoo, while her brother was in pre-school. It is obvious from several of the photos (more are published in a Picasa folder, "Documentary") that we interrupted Khloe's normal nap time, but we all had fun anyway.

Top photo was taken on automatic mode, 1/250, f8, ISO 100, 55 mm, auto fine setting.

Second photo was taken in child mode, 1/250, f5.6, ISO 100, 55 mm, auto fine setting.

The middle photographs of Khloe and the black swan exchanging peeks through the bare bushes are favorites of mine. (Both taken on automatic mode, 1/160, f6.3, ISO 100, 52 mm, auto fine setting.)

She had several favorite exhibits (the naked water moles, the hissing cockroaches, and the turtles) and usually ignored that I was holding and aiming a camera all afternoon.

We especially enjoyed visiting with Samantha, the gorilla, for a long time. There is a separate blog post featuring this Queen of the Erie Zoo. There are also two separate sequences of photos starring Samantha in the Documentary Picasa folder.

Close-up of Khloe reaching for the hinges on the stroller was taken with no flash, 1/320, f9, ISO 100, 45 mm, auto fine setting.

Sleeping Khloe was taken in child mode, 1/60, f5.6, ISO 200, 55 mm, auto fine setting.