Taking photos of chimpanzees in captivity can be a challenge. For human and chimpanzee safety, caregivers never go in the enclosures with the chimps. Since we can’t share the same space as the chimps, staff take all the blog photos and videos through a mesh or wire barrier that separates us from the chimpanzees and vice versa.
We get a pretty common question when first time followers see photos like this of Jamie next to the caging:
Fortunately, Diana wrote an easy to reference blog a couple of years ago to answer the question “Why are the Chimps in Cages?”
Sometimes the mesh makes a nice but unintentional little halo around your photo subject, but usually it just makes it hard to focus the camera on the subject.
Mave:
An added challenge to taking photos of the chimps is the chimps themselves…
We might see special moments like Burrito carrying a Dora doll in his mouth and sitting in a well-lit window. We run to get the camera, then of course, as he sees us coming, he demands a game of chase rather than a photo shoot.
Or we might be taking photos of Missy grooming in the greenhouse…
And know that Jamie is waiting for us to groom with her instead:
Tools and poky chimp fingers can make photo taking risky:
And the new 3 are often too close to the camera because they love looking at screens. So sometimes it’s safer to point and shoot without looking in the view finder and see what the camera focuses on.
Please enjoy these photos I’ve titled ” Willy B: Up close and oddly focused”:
