November 12, 2025 by Bridgette

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!

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

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

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.

June 25, 2024 by Bridgette

Photography: The Sacramento Zoo

Last week I took my mom and 5-year-old nephew to the Sacramento Zoo. We saw plenty of lovely animals, but the flamingos on their nests stole the show. Let me know if you have a favorite image and I hope you are having a wonderful day.

“When I draw it, I’m going to make my skin see-through and what you’ll see is that all the animals in the zoo of me have broken out of their cages.”—Jandy Nelson

All photos were taken by me using an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.

August 8, 2022 by Bridgette

Photography: West Coast Game Park Safari

My daughter and I visited the West Coast Game Park Safari located in Bandon, Oregon. While many people rave about this place, what I saw concerned me. Some of the animals seemed distressed or uncared for. While I appreciated being able to see them so close, I couldn’t help but wonder about the history of the animals and the park.

Before leaving I asked about the lovely chimpanzee named Daphne (the first picture below), but they couldn’t tell me anything about her. All questions were answered with “read the signs,” which were faded and had no information about where the animals originated from.

Today I did a little research before posting these photos and it seems the park has been listed on Peta’s list of Highway Hellholes and has received many citations for animal neglect. I wish I was wrong, but I don’t think this is a good place for animals and I can’t recommend it. However, I still wanted to share my favorite photos of these beautiful animal ambassadors. They deserve better.

Some bonus photos from our travels through Oregon:

What to see more?

June 13, 2022 by Bridgette

Photography: A Day at the Zoo

I’ve been looking at a lot of photographs and find I’m really drawn to photojournalism. I love when a photographer tells a story through their images, capturing a moment in time or the essence of a person or place. I’d like to work on developing my own style of images.

On the road to improvement, I’ll be dedicating the next few weeks to photographing on a theme. This week, my offering is from a recent visit to the Sacramento Zoo. I had a small child with me, so I didn’t have as much time as I’d have liked to stay in one place and capture multiple images. However, it’s all part of the process and I rather enjoyed myself.

Thank you for your support and have a wonderful week.