I went downtown on a wet Independence Day to check out some of the sights. It almost cost me a lot of money (see below).
Around the State Capitol:
And the Civil Right Memorial. I thought it looked stunning in the rain:
Unfortunately, my camera turns out to be "water resistant" only to the extent that I can safely sneeze on it. Even after protecting it under my jacket, the rain that did get on it during these shots caused the buttons to stop working and the LCD screen to go haywire. Fortunately, I pulled the battery and took a compressed air can and blow dryer to it back in the hotel room, and it has returned to normal. Big, wet, expensive bullet dodged. Time to invest in a real rain cover.
With a dry, functioning camera, I headed to the Montgomery Zoo today, and the 70-200mm lens did not disappoint:
Not a breathtaking photo, but I thought the sight to two joeys duking it out was too funny NOT to take a picture of.
Tropical Bird
Zombie Tropical Bird
OK, just white eyelids.
I also went hiking in a bamboo forest outside of town - or rather, an Alabama forest overgrown with bamboo. Kind of dull in this rainy weather, but I think I'll go back next week to catch it in sunset light, or see if I can't capture some fireflies among the shoots.
