“We interrupt regular programming to bring you this newsflash. Gardai are searching for three men who kidnapped (penguin-napped?) a Humboldt penguin from Dublin Zoo yesterday.”
OK so it didn’t exactly prompt a newsflash, but when the story popped up on RTE and Twitter yesterday afternoon it brought a little light relief to the Dáil-dominated news agenda. Especially when Kelli, the penguin at the centre of the story, was back at the zoo safe and sound after a taxi journey around Dublin’s north inner city. I’d love to be able to tell you that this photograph, taken a couple of years ago at the zoo, was the famous Kelli but I’m not convinced, having compared the feathers and markings with the penguin pictured in today’s Irish Times. Still, no doubt this penguin spent last night being enthralled by Kelli’s retelling of her adventure.
I only vaguely remember taking this photograph though I do recall that the black & white treatment worked much better than the colour treatment at the time. I can’t recall what the exposure was, but I’m pretty sure it was taken with my Nikon D50 and a 70-300mm lens.
It’s probably one of the better penguin photos I’ve taken – and I’ve taken lots. Last year the camera club had early access to the zoo (authorized access, that is, unlike the three men who took Kelli yesterday) and I headed straight for the penguin enclosure hoping to photograph them in all their glory, but found them largely hiding behind and under rocks.
Not wanting to be beaten by their attempts to hide, and having started to experiment more with off-camera flash, I made an attempt to illuminate one particularly camera-shy penguin who was better hidden than the rest.
Holding my camera in my right hand, I angled the flash in my left hand so as to throw a narrow beam of light into the little cave that he (or she – maybe this is Kelli?!) was hiding. I guess penguins don’t like flash (though I should point out that it was a low-power flash… I wasn’t trying to blind anyone!) because I got one shot before it immediately ducked its head down behind the rock and didn’t emerge for a good five minutes.
I guess it just wanted some “me time”. As for the shot… well it’s all shadow and hard light, but I did at least manage to illuminate the face. Incidentally you can tell roughly from where the light is coming (low camera left) by the shadow of the beak on the back wall of the cave. I’m tempted to say “bat cave” but there are enough references to Batman and the Penguin in the tabloids today as it is…
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