Animals and wildlife are probably my favorite things to photograph. I was able to get a few good shots at Lincoln Park Zoo this weekend (free entry, as always!), where I went with my mom on a beautiful Mother’s Day in Chicago.

The D800 performed well coupled with the 70-200 VRII. I’m still learning my way around it, but I’m extremely impressed with the resolution and the ability to pull detail out of the over/underexposed sections of the image.

Plus, BIG CATS FTW. They are so great and their numbers are dwindling to emergency levels — which is why I have recently joined and donated to National Geographic’s Big Cat Initiative, a program which raises money for field research, rescue, relocation, and attempts to halt the decline of big cat populations around the world as a result of habitat destruction, hunting, and trapping.

Donate any amount to National Geographic’s Big Cat Initiative

And some other creatures…

Click image below to download full size version from desktop images section

Finally got the new Nikon D800 from the great folks over at PCNation. Pearl Conley somehow got this unit delivered to me within 7 business days after having been on Adorama’s preorder list for 78 days. Needless to say that order was canceled.

I don’t hesitate recommending PCNation and especially Pearl for any of your camera or accessory needs! They are a Nikon Authorized Dealer and a reputable shop run by friendly and honest people.

Here are just a few of the first frames I shot after unpacking the camera and getting some basic options set in the menus.

On March 29, we traveled to South Beach, Miami, FL with a group of 10 to celebrate Andrew & Elena’s upcoming wedding with a coed bachelor/bachelorette party. It was the perfect three-day weekend and included all the staples — lounging by the pool, great food, the beach, a few extraordinary nightclubs, and the best weekend-long permabuzz I have ever achieved. I can’t thank everyone enough for making the trip down and being such a kick-ass group, and especially Andrew & Elena for being such a fearless and fun pair and coming up with the idea of a “pre-bachelor and bachelorette party coed bach/bach weekend vacation”. It was a perfect trip and I’m sad it’s over, but at least we have the regular parties to look forward to now!

Special thanks to all others who joined us, including Lisa, Colleen, Laura, Wally, Aaron, Jason, and Angela.

Extra thanks to the Surfcomber Hotel for not kicking us out and simply giving us unlimited warnings! We weren’t that bad, were we?

BONUS Instagram bundles!

All full-size images + a few more here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/den4ps/sets/72157629728489745/

First stop – Andrew & Elena’s condo for a lot of Guinness and some tasty snacks. After a few hours we headed over to Emmit’s Irish Pub for some green beer, then Miller’s Pub for dinner. We hit Exchequer right down the block for a few more, then met up with more friends at RPM as the night wound down. It was a beautiful day in Chicago!

Fuji X100

Bigger versions here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/den4ps/sets/72157629247114852/

Canon AE-1, Fuji 400h – Processed in LR4 and PS

A big thank you to Andrew at Stottsan Digital Media for a near flawless website migration! After a few years with Bluehost and recent laggy performance on their shared hosting plan, I decided to make a switch. I’m glad to report that my little website now has blistering performance, and the configuration and migration was a snap thanks to Andrew’s web expertise and lightning-fast response time.

If you are looking for an affordable, responsive, and friendly hosting company for your website or blog, look no further than Stottsan Digital Media!

Canon AE-1, Fuji 400H

Nikon F100, Kodak Ektar 100