Photographing Dead Dinosaurs at Thanksgiving Point

Dinosaur Fossils

Thanksgiving Point is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the community through a variety of venues, including gardens, farms and some great museums.  I was recently contracted by TP to photograph their facilities, specifically, their Museum of Ancient Life which happens to offer the world’s largest display of mounted dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs have always held a special place in my heart.  As a child, I marveled at the thought of massive predators roaming a foreign landscape more than 100 million years ago.  Having the opportunity to get so close to these fossils brought me back to that child-like state.  Especially exciting was photographing the Tyrannosaurus Rex.  This required me to get inside a wobbly “elevator” to bring me to eye-level with the T-rex.  As there was no room in the elevator for a tripod, I was forced to rely on fast lenses, a steady hand and ISO 3200 (thank you Adobe Lightroom noise reduction!).