My Photographic and Video Project at the Calgary Zoo

[A Stranger In The Wind]

Since September when my Video Editing course started I have spent a lot of time at the Zoo. Classes ended last week and all my work I managed an A+. The surprise we got 10 weeks ago when our instructor informed us that we would have to shoot a 5-10 minute video that we would edit.

 

As it turned out the Zoo was just starting a Chinese lantern festival the next night and the Dinosaurs Alive was running until the end of October. Since I have a seasons pass I thought why not make a video about the zoo. I got my Dad to be commentator/actor and also used a few shots when my great niece and great nephew were visiting this summer.

 

What made this a fun project is I got to video the giraffe, penguin and red panda that were born between June and October. when they were on display to the public. Furthermore for Dinosaur's Alive I decided to make it an adventure starring my Dad, and some stills and video were shot with my modified for IR Canon and modified for Full Spectrum Canon.

 

I have to credit Andrea for the idea with the Full Spectrum. I took the B+W099 and the Sigh-Ray Tony Sweet filters to give a different look.

 

In the end the video had sections on the animals, conservatory, kids activities, Dinosaurs Alive, food services, Illuminasia(Latern Festival) and a prevew of the upcoming Zoolights.

 

If anyone is interested in viewing the final project it can be found on Vimeo.

Note it is 10 minutes long but if you are interested in the IR and full spectrum they are located between 3:48 and 4:49, interspersed with some color shots as well as some color video converted to B&W in post.

 

https://vimeo.com/146042648

[Andrea B.]

Robert, that is a cool set of videos. I loved them !! Your dad did really well as a narrator/actor.

 

The dinosaur sequence was so much fun. And how interesting to see some IR video and full spec video in the dinosaur part. I think the IR video portion was quite interesting looking. Perhaps someday you can make a totally IR video??

 

Your Calgary zoo seems to be a very good one with such fascinating festivals and engaging features like the moving dinos. The penguins and the baby giraffe were the cutest things!