Jaguar, originally uploaded by andyskelton-a Blog a day http://andrewskelton.net.
Today’s blog title is tenuous beyond belief. In fact, if there’s an Oxbridge exam for tenuous Blog Titles, then this surely will feature on said assessment. Any ideas? Shall I leave to you mull it over for a while, and give you a chance?
Okay, then on to today’s blog for real. I had planned to post this at the end of the batch from Dartmoor Zoo as my pièce de résistance but as I’m having trouble with my network and I have these images to hand, you’ll have to have them early… sorry.
I only managed a mere glimpse of Sovereign, the Jaguar, the last time I visited the zoo in 2010 and that was from a distance. My reward for winning the Zoo’s first photo competition was an access all areas day, as already mentioned, but that also involved roping in the Curator when he was available to help with the photos. I met Colin, whilst photographing Sita, and it was he who helped attract the cheetah so that I could shoot such a memorable image. It was through his skill that he managed to tempt Sovereign (Jaguar, please keep up) from the back of the cage to the very front of the enclosure, so close in fact that at times he was too close for my 600mm to focus (within the minim focal distance). I did shoot a number of frames using the Sigma 150-500mm so that I could show more of this sleek and powerful big cat, one of which you can see on Flickr today.
I don’t know what it is about this image, I guess it’s my Johnny Morris training, but I can see a Disney cartoon character based about Sovereign – so animated is his face in this photos. If I had enough time I might even have ago at the animation myself. Oh and today’s blog title… Quid Pro Quo…. quid… slang for Pound Sterling… Pound Sterling – Sovereign. Okay, I know that’s lame – I will try harder.
Andrew Skelton: 
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