Got Hay?

She Who Must Be Obeyed bought herself a new camera yesterday, so what better way to spend our Sunday than at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo! Near the entrance to the park is the zoo’s expansive African Elephant Crossing enclosure. Despite temperatures in the low-40s, all of the big animals were strolling around in the open air. The cloudy skies made conditions a bit chilly for us visitors but softened the midday light: perfect for portraits of people or pachyderms!

Keeping Company

The elephant enclosure is behind post-and-cable containment that, though lacking high-voltage warnings, looks like it came directly from Jurassic Park. There are plenty of vantage points for humans to watch the elephants, and places created for elephants to seek fresh treats secreted within concrete walls made to look like stone outcroppings.

Open Wide and Say Hay

We spent quite some time observing and photographing the elephants. Though we went on to see the Australian Adventure area, the primate-cat-aquatics building, and the African Savanna, I think our first sights and photos of the day — the elephants — were our favorites. By the way, these pictures are mine but She found her new camera to be quite to her liking. Her little Canon PowerShot SX50 produced images with terrific detail, excellent exposure and contrast, and lovely color — all without manipulation. The 1,200mm-equivalent zoom with image stabilization, all packed into a small all-in-one package, made me a little jealous.