After so many photos and videos of our trips to the zoo, it was looking like a bitter disappointment that, for various reasons, we wouldn’t get a chance to take my mum to Dublin zoo. However, at the last minute, an unexpected opportunity arose this afternoon, on her last day in Dublin. The weather did not stay quite as fine as we had hoped, but on the other hand, the slight constant drizzle and grey skies kept a lot of people at home, giving us near unobstructed views of the sea lion windows and the tigers and lions.
There are lots of great moments from today’s trip and I will need to devote a proper post to them, but this we spent too long packing and chatting and tomorrow we have an early start to see mum off at the airport. So I will instead just show you the highlight of today’s trip, which has to go to the crocodile in the Zoorassic exhibit. The guy was definitely just … hanging. Like, literally he looked suspended by his snout from the surface of the water down. It was amazing to see him so close, especially when he started moving. And ever more fun was once again getting to play with the water refraction and reflection in photographs.
I am endlessly fascinated by the difference in perspective from above and below the water, especially in shots where it looks like the eyes and the top of the head above the water are not in the same place as the rest of the crocodile’s head below the water. Similarly, photographing upward from below allows for a reflection of the animal on the underside of the surface of the water. Unfortunately, the lights and the reflection off the glass and having to keep my third eye in the back of my head on my toddler at all times means that all of my photography in the zoo is very hit or miss. I just snap whatever I can and sometimes they’re great and sometimes they’re not.
His beady eye does not fail to send a shiver up my spine when I see it rove over us as spectators as he moves across. I can definitely see where the expression “in cold blood” might come from. Similarly, the description “positively reptilian” has much greater meaning for me having seen the original.
Dun dun dun dun dun dun…. this croc needs his own theme music!
The Feathered Rose 