Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

The Beauty of Grey

by

As you probably know, we have an enrichment calendar that guides the volunteer or staff member who is putting together enrichment for the following day for the chimpanzees. It provides some sort of theme for the day, like “art day” or “troll scarves.” Sometimes it’s just a color, which causes us to dig through the enrichment bins and perhaps unearth that blue or red or green toy that hasn’t surfaced in a while.

I was laughing yesterday about the theme for today’s enrichment: Grey Day.

It is entirely appropriate, being that the outside world is on the grey spectrum today. Right before I opened the door to the hill to let the chimpanzees decide whether or not to venture out into the overcast day or stay inside, a bald eagle flew overhead. I was marveling at how majestic he was, gliding through the sky, unmistakable from other birds with his starkly contrasting white head with black wings.

This led me to wonder if perhaps I was thinking about Grey Day in an entirely unfair light (so to speak). Grey is beautiful. To prove it, just look at these black and white photos of the chimpanzees. Removing the distraction of color can be a special thing. With the photos of the chimps, I just want to study them a little bit longer, and I notice features that maybe I would overlook in the same photo saturated with color.

So, today, we embrace the grey.

 

Jamie:

 

Jody:

 

Missy:

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Comments

  3. Oh yes, Diana, so true!! Wonderful observation and sharing and post ~ Thank you so much!! Hugs to you all….

  4. I love this Grey Day theme Diana! I find myself looking at the lines on their faces, hairs in their nose, lines down their nose, texture of their hair, and as always, color or black and white, their beautiful expressive eyes.

  5. Oh my beautiful Negra! So endearing the way she crosses her arms. The first photo almost looks like a painted portrait the way the light hits her lovely face. It’s a beautiful of her. And I want to tickle her beautiful butter belly in photo #7. It’s all in her pouty bottom lip, who can resist?!

  6. I have done a fair amount of photography, a lot in b&w, and it is a remarkable way to view the world. As you say, you see more, and it challenges the photographer more, I think. It’s too easy to be attracted to color and not look at the picture as a whole (although color of course is brilliant, too).

    Do you ever do pattern days? Like stripes, or polka dots? That would be stimulating visually.

    • I took a photography class eons ago and always loved black and white. I think you’re right that it can be more challenging. With these I did cheat a bit and found existing color photos that I thought would convert well to black and white. Next time I’ll try taking some with the black and white setting on the camera. We do sometimes do pattern days, yes!