Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Canon SX 30 IS

Back in October, the day before Halloween (10/31), Steve and I went to a beautiful park in Ashland, Oregon, called Lithia Park. We wanted to take pictures of fall colors, and while we were there, we found a pond full of happy Mallard ducks! If you have read my new profile, one of the two images that Steve took which pushed me over the edge to move up to a full-frame sensor, was that of a female mallard duck flapping her wings. This was *MY* best picture of that flapping mallard. I think it's a nice picture...but...the difference in quality between mine and Steve's (shown in the first comment below) filled me with great frustration. *I* wanted to take shots like HIS, not like MINE! (By the way, if you haven't read my profile, you can see it here: www.flickr.com/people/sfhipchick/ ) This image was taken on October 30, 2011.

Last week, one of my dreams came true and I got to go to the San Francisco Zoo with a camera!!! What a day it was!! I came home with hundreds of pictures taken on my trusty old Canon SX30 IS super zoom camera, and that night I presented my favorite collage of my trip to SF, brimming with animals of all sorts! I promised that I'd show larger versions when I got home, and I finally had some time to work on a few! Here is one of my favorite pictures of the day. This gorgeous chimpanzee was sitting up on a platform, just hanging out and eyeing the crowd. I was very awed by this fellow and tried to be as respectful as I could while I silently took pictures, using submissive body language, eyes down with slow movements. I'm not sure what I was doing correctly but this lovely ape kept looking directly at me, though there were many others watching and taking pictures. When I moved, the chimpanzee followed me with its eyes, not the others. An uncanny, amazing and unforgettable experience, I find his expression to be both curious and profoundly sad. :( You may be surprised to learn that this specific eye contact happened to me more than once with other primates there! It was amazing to me.