animal faces

Also in the Aachen zoo, I saw this bearded vulture. Zoos allow relatively close encounters with the animals, making photos easy. But they also have nets, fences, glass. I prefer the the former two since I can make them vanish in the right circumstances, when the fence is close an the subject far (as mentioned before). And that allowed me to take this "head and shoulders" picture of the vulture. It makes me think of a strict teacher.

However the long focal of the telescope lens made it difficult to get larger animals in frame as a whole at the zoo-typical distances. So some of the head shot portraits I took were not only artistic choice...

Snowy owls are some of my favorite animals. Their big eyes are beautiful, they are usually not hiding in dark corners like other, more night-adapted owls, and their white feathers make them stand out against darker backgrounds. This one just happens to look incredibly goofy because of how its nose feathers kind of block its pupils, giving the impression of severe cross-eyedness.