Wildlife Safari Photography Class

At the end of April, very early on a cold, rainy Saturday morning, I gathered with about 20 other people to go on a photo shoot at the Wildlife Safari in Ashland, Nebraska. It is a part of the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo…but not located near it. It is about 30 minutes from the zoo proper and it is mostly one of those places where you drive out through winding roads and get to see herds of buffalo and elk and then hike up to large enclosures of bald eagles, wolves, and bears. There are some closures of owl exhibits due to avian bird flue scares in the area, but we had the park to ourselves for the first couple of hours and not many people came out in the driving rain. There was a class the night prior at Rockbrook Cameras, a local camera shop. There were some photographers with Tamron lenses there to somewhat guide the class and to lend out glass to those who may not have super long lenses. I do, thanks to Rich several Christmases ago. The rain was not a lot of fun as you still have to roll down your window to take photos. If you have ever lived in Nebraska, you know it almost always rains sideways thanks to our generous winds. Thanks to three years of rainy weather conditioning in Norway, I was fine with tromping in the rain to take photos. The animals are all wet. We were all wet. For those who want to know, wolves do smell like wet dogs. And….if you have enough time, you can catch most animals with their tongues out!