Description

The Goslings swam in single file trailing their mother’s large form. Where the mother was big, brownish, and black and white, the Goslings were cute, like Ryan Gosling in his first appearance on Graham Norton Show. Yes I had to make the jump from Canadian Geese to Canadian movie star.

I followed them for a while on the Farmington River, but they were not very social, kinda down right rude. Helicopter parents has a whole new meaning when dealing with Goslings.

It is still one of my favorite kayak photography moments. It was fun following them along the river and finding ways to get them to swim toward me. I felt like part of The Goslings. Thanks Ryan!

The Goslings by Mark D Phillips, 10″ x 20″ printed on aluminum

While working at the now defunct Tampa Tribune in the 1980s, I began a love of photographing animals that has carried through my entire career.

You wouldn’t think of Tampa as a wildlife center, but it really was. With Busch Gardens Tampa and the start of Lowry Park Zoo, there were more exotic animals to be photographed than In most African game parks. I latched on to every animal assignment I could get. When Busch Gardens hosted Ling Ling, a Panda on loan from the Chinese government, I was able to photograph both his arrival and birthday party. The feed truck at Busch Gardens gave me one of my all-time favorite animal photographs of three giraffes.