A Little Magic to Start the Year

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park is not my typical photography location, but I will admit they do an absolutely exceptional job with their animal exhibits. One of the biggest issues for photographers, when it comes to shooting in zoos, is that we often have to be very careful about the backgrounds of our images: no one wants to see a cheetah sitting in front of an ugly concrete wall or a monkey clambering on a chain link fence. The exhibits at Animal Kingdom were clearly designed with a photographer in mind, with plenty of vegetation and even artificial waterfalls in their enclosures. It was amazing to take some incredible images of rare species such as the okapi, western lowland gorilla, and blue-throated macaw in natural-looking scenery. In the spirit of Disney World, here are a few of my favourite “magical” images from my visit…

Kiwi Birdlife Park

I always like to visit zoos and wildlife centres when I travel. Whilst visiting Queenstown, I stopped by Kiwi Birdlife Park to photograph New Zealand’s charismatic endemic bird species. This is a small park with a good range of species, from kākāriki (New Zealand parakeets) to pāteke (brown teal). I thoroughly enjoyed their educational presentation on conservation and their honey tasting session. Definitely worth a visit if you plan on stopping by Queenstown sometime soon!

Arthur's Pass

Earlier this year, I spent a couple of months working with the fantastic kea parrots (Nestor notabilis) at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, in Christchuch. They are incredibly charismatic birds with an insatiable curiosity and a sense of humour. They play with everything they can find but have extremely powerful beaks, which makes them infamous with the locals, mostly for their love of chewing on car rubber fittings and television antennae.

Hoping to see wild keas in their natural environment, we drove to Arthur's Pass National Park. It was a fantastic day and we were lucky enough to see fantastic views, an enormous flock of sheep, and plenty of cheeky wild kea.

Below are a few of my favourite photos from the day trip. Enjoy!