Photography, to me, is fascinating both as an art form and as a documentary tool. There’s no doubt that the end result – the photos that are shared – say as much about the photographer as the subject.
All of the caregivers here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest take photos (a LOT of photos) of the chimpanzees, and we each go through the process of choosing those photos that we feel best represents the moment or the individual we were trying to capture.
I was looking through photos of Jamie and discovered several from this year that I had taken that hadn’t been posted to the blog yet. Sometimes I like to save photos for print like in our annual calendar, which I’ll be working on soon, but it’s pretty difficult not to share, so I decided not to save them but to share the ones I rediscovered today with you blog readers.
With Jamie’s procedure yesterday and the two of us working together on positive reinforcement training for the last several months, Jamie’s been on my mind pretty much constantly.
No one who knows her would tell you that Jamie is an “easy chimpanzee.” Being her caregiver is a constant challenge. She’s demanding and moody and strong-willed. Despite these characteristics, or probably because of them, I can’t think of a single person on this earth that I admire and respect more than Jamie.
I hope this admiration, respect, and love comes through in these photos I took of her over the last year. And I hope these images provide a glimpse into the amazing, strong, curious and wonderful person that Jamie is:
I would love it if you chose one of these photos (or all, by linking to this blog post) to share Jamie and her story with those you know. You can find out more about her past on her short bio page and the more in-depth history of her life before sanctuary on her Eyes on Apes profile page.
It makes me so happy to know that she has admirers our there!
