Going to the zoo
Olivier Glod
I am having a bit of trouble making up my mind how I feel about zoos.
On one hand, animals taken out of their natural habitat and put on display are often ridden with various stress-related diseases.
On the flip side, there are also zoos where the tenants are treated like royalty and don't have to fear poachers.
I know my reasoning is very shallow and there are loads of other arguments to consider (even though most coming to my mind would be against), but this is not the time and place to ponder the ethics of these establishments.
For further reading though, here's two VERY interesting articles:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/mar/08/why-the-world-needs-zoos
Anyway, back to the original purpose of my blog: to discuss photography and show some pictures :-)
So, back in August 2016, I got hold of the Fuji superzoom lens XF100-400mm and was thinking about how I could put it to the test in a controlled environment and get used to handling this behemoth (in the mirrorless cameras world).
I finally decided to head out to the "Zoo d'Amnéville".
This was quite a bit of a drive, especially since I got stuck in a traffic jam.
It was still relatively early morning when I arrived, but there was already a huge queue and I needed about half an hour to finally set foot inside the premises.
Once free to roam around, I spent some time taking in the sights and enjoying the experience before finally getting started with the task at hand.
The X-PRO2 and the XF100-400 performed admirably, though a bit unwieldily (very small camera body vs. very big lens). This is not an issue anymore when using the X-T2, especially with the battery grip attached.
Here's a small selection of my shots :-)
