I think that's about as close as I want to get to this guy.
What I learned in taking this photo: Silverbacks don't much care for hoards of tourists trying to take selfies with them looking over their heads.....but they're OK with scruffy looking dudes sticking a telephoto lens in their face.
Aren't they just gorgeous?! I've not closed in this tight, but my most recent assessment of one at the Santa Barbara zoo left me wondering how I'd feel if the tables were turned... A beautiful specimen photo, Ron!
"Man if I could get through this glass wall I'd take that telephoto lens and stick it where the sun don't shine, you scruffy looking dude".
Very soulful shot of the poor fellow.
Talk about a bit of shock when arriving at this page; that's a whole lot of gorilla in our face! Honestly, he looks bored. Maybe you could teach him about photography, get him out on a field trip, let him see the world differently. Great shot.
About the wreath of oranges, it's a bunch of oranges arranged in a nearly OCD circle. And yes, they turned out to be delicious; about half of them have since been eaten.
@pcoulson Thanks Peter, and especially for the fav. I wish I'd have been able to get both eyes in focus, but I'm claiming partial victory for getting one.
@maggiemae Thanks Maggiemae, truth be told I didn't have all that much time to stop and ponder, but knew I wanted to get at least the eyes in focus - always a goal when trying to capture the critters. I didn't realized that the gaze was so telling until I looked at the shot after downloading. Thanks for the comments.
@bkbinthecity Thanks Brian. I got lucky, as they don't come down close to the people all that often. I had to fight off all of the "amateurs" with their iphones and selfie sticks before he stopped cooperating....which happened about 10 seconds after I got the shot.
@aglennc Thanks very much Anita. As I state above eyes are of great interest to me, especially in animal shots. They do seem to portray a lot of feeling in this shot, don't they?
@tigerdreamer You'd be surprised how close it was - about a six inch distance...and that included the glass that thankfully separated us! Thanks for commenting Karen.
@onewing Thanks Babs, yes, he does kind of look sad, but then he seemed to get a little mad (not at me, of course) and then turned around and just showed his back the rest of the time that I spent there.
@joysfocus Thanks for the comment and fav Joy! Yeah, we weren't all that far apart. As I stated above I was really happy to have some think glass separating us.
@pickerandagrinner Thanks Louis. I feel for ya, my friend, as I just recovered from a bad cold myself over the past couple of weeks. Then again with the nose on this dude, a runny nose could be pretty frightening.
@lyndemc Taking a gorilla out on a photo shoot would not be unlike some of the folks that I've dealt with in various photo classes. Honestly I believe the gorilla could have done batter than some of them - and handled the camera more delicately.
Very soulful shot of the poor fellow.
About the wreath of oranges, it's a bunch of oranges arranged in a nearly OCD circle. And yes, they turned out to be delicious; about half of them have since been eaten.