While we were on our little cabin getaway we visited the Ripley's Aquarium in east Tennessee [cue Little Mermaid Music]. Full disclosure: this was actually my second time at the Gatlinburg aquarium— I went once before back when I attended the local arts & crafts school there. So I already knew that it was awesome + we had free passes so I was not going to miss out on the jellyfish or the opportunity to practice my undersea photography skills.
top: lionfish / left: leafy sea dragon / right: weedy sea dragon
Here are some pacific sea horses. I have mixed feelings about sharing this picture because they were beautiful in person buuuuuut I only realized after the photos were on my computer that some of these guys appear to be. . . slightly less than alive? But what do I know about seahorses, anyway?
left: coral reef ft. regal blue tang / right: awesome iguana with his little tongue hanging out!
How cool is this poison dart frog? He was in the rainforest section of the aquarium.
left: penguin trying to stay awake / right: cuddling penguins— are you kidding me?
top: green sea turtle / middle: Nick in the underwater tunnel appearing to have no fun at all. . . but for some reason I love this photo of him— probably because the glasses strap? also, BEARD, c'mon! ;-) / bottom: school of fish (with one particularly angry looking fella . . . he's probably got somewhere real important to be!)
So there you have it! Final thoughts:
-Taking pictures of tiny, fast moving creatures in dark, watery exhibits is very difficult! I managed to get some good shots BUT just keep in mind that I took 200+ pictures while there and this is all I'm sharing. Granted, I'm no photographer— just a blogger trying to get to know my camera a little better. (I'm pretty excited about the amount I've learned already and hopefully one day I can look back at these and realize how far I've come blah blah blah moving on. . . )
-In all honesty, I have mixed feelings about aquariums. . . The animal lover in me is really skeptical of the use of creatures for entertainment and questions the necessity of places like this. . . But the science + knowledge lover in me is amazed by the beauty in the world and the info I got to learn while I was there. Also the part of me that loves free stuff was like "WOO HOO" so there's that. So yeah, sorry if that's a ~total buzz kill~ but that's just the kind of stuff I think about so if anyone else here wants to talk about their feelings in the comments then go for it haha
-I'm not sure why I got all nerdy and posted the names of everything I photographed. . . guess my freak flag is showing sooooo I'm just gonna go now! I hope you have a great week—mine is filled with tons of driving and grilled food eating =]
Snuggling penguins?!?!? Lucky duck!!!! So glad to finally meet my glasses twin in real, not interweb life. Your mallows were better than I could have dreamed. They're definitely on the wish list. Maybe ill review them soon!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked them! it was so awesome finally meeting you =]
DeleteThis photos are amazing! I've never had much luck in photographing aquariums, always get a dodgy glass reflection!
ReplyDeletei hear ya— i had a ton of outtakes. since i had already seen the aquarium before i got to play with my camera a lot while everyone explored!
DeleteI love that you named all of the animals, it was very keen of you. :) And don't worry about the possibly dead Sea horse situation. My boyfriend came home once and showed me a picture of a cat fish "swimming" upside down in a fish tank he saw and he told me, "Look babe that's you! Because only dumb fishes swim upside down!" Then I had to pop his bubble and tell him that the catfish was dead an the proof was that the eyes were white. He was pretty terrified of the picture after that. Hahah
ReplyDeleteOh and the skeptical feeling of aquariums and being an animal lover; I totally understand because I'm a huge animal lover as well, but at least most aquariums are not like Sea World which make the animals do tricks. But then again aquariums do keep fishes, penguins, frogs, etc. in limited spaces. So it's a bitter sweet feeling.
vegcourtesy.blogspot.com
i agree— definitely bittersweet!
DeleteYou captured two of my favourite marine creatures so beautifully. I love seahorses and then you showed the turtle - a turtle always wins in my book!
ReplyDeletei love his little face— he looks so grumpy!
DeleteWe recently visited here. It was our first time and while the area was way more touristy then we expected, we had fun. We walked through the aquarium twice because my son loved it so much.
ReplyDeleteit's *so* touristy but it's backed up to national parks so sometimes that makes up for the worst of it ;-)
DeleteOh my God I love Gatlinburg. It's horrible in a fabulous way.
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU, I TOTALLY AGREE
DeleteDart frogs are so cute!
ReplyDeletethe color is unreal!
DeleteSea turtles...snuggin' penguins...gorgeous indigo colored dart frog...this post has it all! Your pictures are gorgeous. I also love that that iguana was giving you guys a raspberry for taking his photograph-- nyah, nyah, he seems to say!
ReplyDeletei couldn't believe he was just sitting there with his tongue out!
DeleteThose are some GORGEOUS photos!!! Those are really amazing!
ReplyDeleteI find myself conflicted on the concept/design/production of zoos and aquariums because I don't like the idea of animals of any kind caged up. I do like that they raise awareness, and money for wildlife funds though... It's tough. I feel more places are trying harder to make the animals spaces more interactive and more like their natural habitat. I refuse to go to SeaWorld though, since I really don't agree with how they capture the orcas or the small space they are given.
thank you so much! it's definitely hard to find balance in these situations— i am glad so many others are thinking about it as well!
DeleteGah your blog is exceptional and this is a wonderful post! Beautiful pictures, but I can understand your concern about animals as entertainment, and I think it is great that this is something you consider here. Following you, can't wait to read more amazing posts!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ragsoflove.com/ xx
thanks so much for the kind words! off to check out your blog now. . .
DeleteBeards = yes.
ReplyDeleteThat is all.
xx A
<3 agreed!
DeleteThese pictures are gorgeous! Question: did you use a polarizer? I recently photographed my trip to the New York Aquarium and had a tough time getting any of them to come out clear and without reflections from the glass, even without flash. Haven't had a moment to post the pictures yet but I'm wondering how you got these to come out so clearly!
ReplyDeletei did not use a polarizer (i actually had to look up what the was— eep!)
Deletei shot these with a Canon 60D + 50mm lens. i had already been to the aquarium once so while most were ooh-ing and ahh-ing I got to play with my camera settings a lot and try to get the best shots. i mean, i did my fair amount of going gaga over the jellyfish BUT there were A LOT of outtakes from this day. in manual mode I basically set a really low aperture and really high ISO to let in as much light as possible. then i set it on sports mode to get the fish in action. then i just took TONS of photos to find the right lighting angles until i got a good one!
thank you so much and i hope this helps!