One of the best places to go in Washington, DC with kids, or even by yourself, is the (Smithsonian) National Zoo.  While on evacuation from US Embassy Cairo last year, I had the chance to take the little dudes to the zoo.  There we came across bronze statutes of a troop of chimpanzee apes; which explains the origin of the picture on the blog’s page header.

Now for the chimping part explained.  It is nothing more than a colloquial a term used in digital photography.  According to that source of ultimate knowledge, Wikipedia, Robert Deutsch from USA Today first used the term way back then in September 1999 when writing a story for the SportsShooter email.  That said, it is nothing more than the bad habit of checking every photo on the camera display immediately after taking the picture.

Ok, I take pictures ( a lot) and do look at these often as these come out.  And yes, I also guilty of probably making the funny face (sometimes) and of likely saying something like “Ooo-oo-oo.”  But by checking the display on my Nikon, it means that I can get confirmation that I got the shot or that I just need to do it again.  Let’s face it, we all mess up shots.

Some purist will use the term as a pejorative.  But since the technology is available, I think it would be foolish not to use it to its fullest extent!

So get out there, get the shot and check it.  If it comes out good, feel free to chimp away a   couple of “Ooo-oo-oos.”

Cheers.