Monkey World (6 photos)

Evening all. I visited Monkey World in Dorset at the start of the week and here's a handful of shots. Some of you may be familiar with the place from the TV programme "Monkey Life". They specifically rescue captive or mistreated primates and then try to provide the best environment for them, as captive animals, as they can. Like other zoos and safari parks there are the usual photographic challenges of enclosures, fences, and bars etc., and it is very popular (i.e. lots of people!). All of these shots were taken with the DA* 200 on my K-7, which i found to be a pretty good combo overall.

First up, a Rough Lemur balancing



Then a Ring-tailed Lemur having a bit of a chomp



A Gibbon perhaps pondering on his/her situation



and his/her (very!) noisy neighbour



Prehensile feet



and finally, because I'm not sure that any of these previous shots are of 'monkeys' in the truest sense (i.e. they are apes, primates etc.), here's a Capuchin Monkey doing his/her best Elvis impersonation...(!?)



I hope you like these. Any C&C welcomed as ever. More on my Flickr photostream if anyone wants to see more.

Regards

Do you know I live not many miles from Monkey world and have bever been there.

Nice set but number 3 is something special, those eyes are fantastic .. certain PPG acceptance IMO.

Have you tried cloning out the wire?

Lovely set, and three is certainly a cracking shot.

First 3 are very good, but as Mike says it's number 3 that really takes the cake. The fantastic guarded eyes say a lot about life in captivity, a powerful image.

A real shame about the missed focus on the eyes-front shot on Flickr.

Thanks very much folks. Number 3 is my pick of the bunch as well.

Mike, I think Monkey World is worth a visit although it's not huge, and costs just over a tenner to get in; having been there twice I've not lasted more than a half day there. I did think about cloning out the wire but in the end I thought it was a big job (probably beyond my limited cloning skills) so opted to leave it in and try to frame pics which included the wire. In other places I've managed to make the wire disappear by using a shallow DOF and getting close to the enclosure but found it wasn't really possible here as the wire is think and you can't really get close enough to the wired enclosures (too many primate hands reaching out...). The bigger enclosures have several large glass panels to view through which is handy but again they're not ideal from a photography POV as they are pretty grubby, slightly tinted and not quite optically 'perfect'. The Lemurs are a joy though as visitors can actually go into their enclosure and the Lemurs are just hopping around and about the place, no wire or glass

Regards

PS Tim - agree with you on the 'front-on' shot on flickr. Was gutted to have missed the focus on that. Oh well, always next time...

Cheers

Number 2 the Lemur is a very sharp image, nice use of a wide aperture. They are very photogenic ....if they sit still long enough.

Number 3 has to be the best though....a classic. A picture that says so many things.

Sad to follow the crowd but No 3 is the stand-out picture for me too.

So boring ..... I have to also say #3 is a fantastic shot. Print it and frame it.

I'm glad you decided not to try and remove the wire fencing on #3 .

With it it is soooooooo indicative of the Gibbon in captivity - he's just looking out at a world he can't inhabit

We went to MW on the way back from a Dorset holiday. If you just walk around it you won't be very long.

However, I would highly recommend catching the little lectures they do. The keepers tell you about the characters of them all, and a bit about their history. Fascinating stuff. You'd be there all day with no problem at all. The map near the entrance has the schedule for the lectures (we caught 3 of them and wish we'd managed more).

I'd agree on #3 as well. Alas, I 'only' have the DA*50-135 - I got a few decent shots, but the extra reach would have been welcome

Matt

Many thanks everyone for the kind comments. I shall try some of the shots in the PPG, I think, and see how they go. You are right as well, Matt, about the talks in Monkey World - we listened in on a couple of them the first time we went and they are very informative and entertaining.

Regards

Mat W

No 3 for me also Mat - it really captures the moment and the situation.

Thanks i-Berg

Regards

Hi Mat

Pictures are great, i'm the operations manager for Monkey World and would love to get hold of copies if at all possible. Email me on [email protected] if you would like to discuss.

Also, we are in the process of setting up a couple of photography days at the park, if any of you are interested contact me on the email address above and I will forward the details on to you. This is quite a big deal and those attending will have access to some of the private viewing platforms in the park, so wire no problem.