Abraham Lincoln - and bird

At Fort Lincoln Cemetery there are many wonderful sculptures decorating the grounds. I never realized that this statue of President Lincoln was so personal. It has so much detail and is incredibly human, right down to his pigeon toed feet in his battered boots.
The past few days I have noticed that my camera meter is reading things as much darker than they are. If I use the meter, my photos are way overexposed. I wonder if there is a setting off.