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Photography: The Sacramento Zoo Dinosaurs

Yesterday, I went to The Sacramento Zoo to see their new collection of enormous animatronic dinosaurs. While the exhibit was fantastic, I struggled hard with my camera. I chose to bring the wrong lens, forgot my glasses, couldn’t get my settings right for anything, and ended up with a lot of bad photos. I’m talking real stinkers.

I’m sharing the ones I sort of liked, as a marker in my journey. These show what I was trying to do: get more varied shots, focus on depth, and play with colors. You’ll see a lot of purposeful blur and my attempts at creative framing. I’ve got a lot of shoots planned in the future, and I suppose each click, good or bad, is a step in my journey.

Let me know if you have a favorite, and if you’re in Sacramento, the dinosaurs are there until October. I know I’ll be headed back again!

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  • These were taken with my Olympus E-M1 MarkII, using a 40-150mm lens and edited with Lightroom Classic.

22 thoughts on “Photography: The Sacramento Zoo Dinosaurs”

  1. There are some really good photos in this set, Bridgette! The first Giraffe photo is so fun, I had to laugh, I love his tongue sticking out at the girl. Number 6, the sleepy critter is sooo cute! Happy weekend!

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    • Thanks, John! I was just super disappointed that more shots didn’t work out. I thought I got some good action shots of the lions but they were super out of focus. I think my shutter speed was too low to compensate for the light, trying to not raise my ISO so high that I get all that noise in my pictures. I’m sure I’ll get it eventually. This was midday light which I find the most challenging.

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  5. What a thoughtful and inspiring reflection on your creative journey. I love how you embrace both the strong shots and the imperfect ones as meaningful steps in your growth—that mindset is what truly shapes an artist. Your intention to experiment with depth, color, blur, and framing shows a curious and fearless eye, and it’s exciting to see how deliberately you’re pushing your boundaries. This collection feels less like a set of photos and more like a story of exploration, passion, and evolution. Truly wonderful to witness, and I can’t wait to see where your lens takes you next.

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    • You are so kind! Thank you. I wish my skill set was higher and I was leaping forward, but growth doesn’t work like that. I am grateful for the thoughtful words and for your encouragement as I move forward. Hope you have a wonderful Sunday.

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  7. You’re right Bridgette, you only achieve any skill through making mistakes along the way and learning from them. (My second book was way too ambitious for a beginner and so fell very flat.) Also, I love vermavkv’s observations above. As to this set of photos I’m drawn first to the colour palette in #15 with all subjects facing away from the camera. And the civet(?) in the basket.

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    • Thanks, Roy. I’m feeling impatient and want to fast forward to the part when I’m understanding everything and it’s become like second nature, but that’s not how learning works. I’ve got to pay my dues. Thank you for encouraging me!

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