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Photography: The Sacramento Zoo


You might not know this, but I raised and bred guinea pigs when I was a kid. At one point I think I had over a dozen in my bedroom (my room also had a pair of breeding doves and some fish). Not to brag or anything, but I made it to showmanship championships in Bakersfield one year. Yeah, I was a big deal with my piggies. Enjoy this very out-of-focus photo of me and my champion Teddy (breed of guinea pig) named Chippy.

I share this to say, when I found out they had baby capybaras at The Sacramento Zoo…I got pretty excited. For those who don’t know, capybaras are part of the Caviidae family and are considered distant relatives of the guinea pig. I got my 6-year-old nephew hyped up and when we saw the five little babies, well, we might have squealed just a bit. Not only are they adorable, but we saw them learning to swim! I think I got him hooked.


Here are my favorite capybara photos, along with some other beautiful Sacramento Zoo animals. Let me know if you have a favorite photo and have a fantastic rest of your week!

#1 *the momma capybara

#2 *one of five cute babies!

#3

#4

#5 *don’t tell the others, but this little one is my favorite

#6

#7

#8

#9 *see if you can spot the third baby in the water

#10

#11

#12

#13 *serious side-eye happening

#14 *love the meerkat lookout

#15

#16 *isn’t he gorgeous!

#17

#18

#19

#20 *love the red pandas

#21

#22

#23

#24

#25
  • Photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW
  • Thank you Vanessa for the awesome face painting! Check her out if you need to hire someone. She’s fantastic.

36 thoughts on “Photography: The Sacramento Zoo”

      • Good news! I am fine after having a carotid artery surgery three weeks ago. I had an 80% blockage on the right side. I’m sporting another new scar! 😂 Have a great week. 👍🏻

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      • Wowza! I had no idea. Thank goodness you are doing well, John. That’s scary. I’m coming out your way in February. Maybe we can meet for coffee and a photography session together. I’ll send you the dates as we get closer to see if we can make it work.

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      • Thank you Bridgette! I feel 20 years young but my almost 65 year old body says ooohhh no ya don’t! That would be great, Bridgette! My sis and I will be back from Arizona at the end of January seeing our cousins so that would be great, stay in touch! ☺️

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    • Indeed! One of the very first places I ever lifted a camera to my eye was the San Francisco Zoo. I’m still learning, but it’s fun to try and capture these beautiful creatures. Thank you for stopping by.

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  4. Aww, I bet your nephew enjoyed every minute of it, Bridgette! The photos are lovely!

    I actually VERY thoroughly enjoyed your book! I reviewed it on Amazon and Goodreads, and I posted a blog entry about it as well.

    Watering Words is an astounding author debut!

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    • Thank you! I plan on getting my nephew a zoo membership as his Christmas gift, so stay tuned for a lot more animal photos.

      I just went and read the reviews you left for my book and I’m in tears. Wow! You seriously made my month! I’ve been struggling with so little sales and trying to stay motivated to move forward and your words are the balm I needed. I can’t thank you enough!!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • You’re most welcome! Your book has touched many people and it’s a work of art. Please give yourself grace. It’s reaching the people it should.

        As for your nephew, I know he’ll enjoy that gift. *Big hugs*

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    • I’m so glad you liked my photos, Penny! The capybara’s are even cuter in person, and I’m always going to photograph the meerkats. I must have over 100 photos of them at this point, but I just love them so much. When the lion yawned, I might have got super excited because it made for a more dramatic photos showing us those teeth!

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  11. I love that final photo of you and your nephew! It’s just fabulous. Some other favorites are the third baby capybara with it’s little eyes peeking out, 11–the close up flamingo, 17 and 18–the beautiful lion portraits with the light, and 24–the close up reptile (I feel like I should know what that is but not quite sure.)

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    • Oh, thank you! I looked up and saw the mirror and just had to take that photo. I have so few photos of us together, so it was nice to get this one. I was so happy with the lighting of the lion. Those might be my favorite shots, and I didn’t have to edit them at all. I’m not sure I remember what that little reptile guy was either, but I *think* he’s some kind of skink.

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  12. Every time we visit a zoo, I mostly take the same photos repeatedly. Thanks for opening up my eyes a bit. In addition to your capybara photos, I like 14, 17, 19, and 21. Always a sucker for any kind of turtle/terrapin/tortoise… and meerkats, always meerkats.

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