Photo friendly Zoos

[Huck]

Are the zoos down in Texas photo friendly? I recently attended the OKC Zoo with my kids and noticed a lot of fence when I tried to take a picture. I guess if I had more of a telephoto lens I could shoot in between the holes. How are the zoos in Texas for taking photos and/or can anways provide me some shooting tips??

[Roy]

I've seen a lot of zoo photos on this forum and most seem photo friendly or it may of been the creative photographer but I can say from experience that the Fort Worth Zoo is very photo friendly. If you have not been there, you owe it to youself to at least try it.

[Cope]

The fences are there to protect tjhe predators from visiting kids. Houston was OK last time I went, but I didn't have a DSLR with me and was limited on shots.

[Steelsun]

Houston Zoo is very photog Friendly, and I even went on a "Photo Safari" at the Dallas Zoo with their official photographer.

Don't know about the others, although I might hit San Antonio's in March.

[Hogleg 44]

Ditto what Roy said about the Ft. Worth Zoo, and it is considered one of the best Zoo's in the nation.

As Bob Barker would say.....Come on Down!!!

[3n-Out]

San Antonio Zoo is very photo friendly. If you have a 70-200 you are in good shape at our Zoo. Really only some of the monkey and most birds have fencing. Although we do have a large building with free flying birds and glass exhibits.

[jeffkohn]

It varies from zoo to zoo and even exhibit to exhibit. The Houston Zoo has some nice, open-air exhibits but it also has its share of dirty plexiglass and chain-link fencing with fairly tight spacing. Unfortunately the Houston Zoo has been in a bit of decline IMHO, they've lost quite a few animals over the last few years and have been fairly slow to get new ones. The number of empty and closed exhibits is disheartening. They also currently have big chunks of the zoo closed for renovations. Maybe things will get better as they finish up some of the work currently going on, but my last few visits were pretty disappointing.

The Fort Worth Zoo is excellent. It's well designed, has a lot of interesting animals, and is very photographer-friendly.

The Caldwell Zoo in Tyler is also pretty good.

[Tim-in-TX]

Of all the Zoos I have been to, the most Photographer Friendly one is the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler TX. It has bee a couple of years since I have been there, but many of the Cat cages did not have bars or chain link fencing. they had thin(ish) high tensile steel cables that run vertically and made for easy animal viewing. They are thin enough that with just a little adjustment in depth of field, you make it appear as though there was nothing between you and the animal at all.
And, at the time, they were in the process of going for a wide open "Savanna" look. From the photos on their web page (http://www.caldwellzoo.org/), it looks as though they are done. That reminds me, I need to go back the next time I am in that neck-o-the-woods!

[Pawpaw]

Ft Worth Zoo is very photo friendly. Thats my favorite zoo to go to. Dallas Zoo has all the big cats and most of the birds caged up, with only a few smaller cats in open areas. Dallas also has a lot of plexiglass between you and many of the other animals. Ft Worth is definately tops.

[phillip ino]

The Austin Zoo is not even worth going to

[mkweaver]

Ditto the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, Texas! Beautiful grounds, and very photo friendly!

[Duffy Pratt]

From the Fort Worth Zoo photography policy:

By entering the Fort Worth Zoo, all guests, patrons, employees and volunteers agree that
photographs and videos of animals and other property at the Fort Worth Zoo may not be
used for commercial profit (i.e., financial gain), for publicity, or for any other purpose
that commercially or publicly exploits the photos and videos, including posting the
images on the Internet.

Read literally, this means that you are free to take pictures, but you can't show them to the public. So, if you do go to Fort Worth Zoo, make sure you don't post the pictures here or anywhere else on the web. They may not mean for their policy to be as Draconian as it sounds, but as it stands, I don't think the policy is very realistic, or friendly to photographers.

Duffy

[Breezy]

Yeah Duffy I would say that pretty much sucks.
What is the point in going then lol.

[Hogleg 44]

Originally Posted by Duffy Pratt

From the Fort Worth Zoo photography policy:



Read literally, this means that you are free to take pictures, but you can't show them to the public. So, if you do go to Fort Worth Zoo, make sure you don't post the pictures here or anywhere else on the web. They may not mean for their policy to be as Draconian as it sounds, but as it stands, I don't think the policy is very realistic, or friendly to photographers.

Duffy

There are an awful lot of pictures already posted here from the Ft. Worth Zoo. Including mine. Taken with my Canon 1DMkII, (Pro Camera) in plain site of all zoo staff. I have a few hundred on the net in my public albums, and nobody has ever said anything.
That is most likely 'fine print' that is only exercised in extreme cases. The Ft. Worth Zoo is a great place. And Photo Friendly!

[jeffkohn]

Originally Posted by Duffy Pratt

From the Fort Worth Zoo photography policy:



Read literally, this means that you are free to take pictures, but you can't show them to the public. So, if you do go to Fort Worth Zoo, make sure you don't post the pictures here or anywhere else on the web. They may not mean for their policy to be as Draconian as it sounds, but as it stands, I don't think the policy is very realistic, or friendly to photographers.

Duffy

I don't think "publicity" means "showing them to the public". Besides, just because they post a statement on their website doesn't make it in any way legally binding.