Canon 30D, handheld
Mamiya 80mm at f8
1/60 second at ISO 800
Optimism

 

ring-tailed lemur Lemur catta

The ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) is a fetching primate, and certainly the best known in North America at least, but they're only one of over a hundred different lemur species. How many others have you seen? Yeah, that explains why I don't pay much attention to them and try to get photos of any of the other species. But while working with a student at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC, one of their residents was perched on a branch near the enclosure's glass, and though I figured I'd get some glare or smears from shooting through the glass, I fired off a few frames anyway. This was one of the resulting portraits, and I can't deny how compelling it is – there's something about the expression.