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chimpanzee portrait

Portrait of a Pant Hoot

December 11, 2021 by Diana

The day started out on the warm side, considering that we are well into the month of December. The chimps’ greenhouse spaces were cozy all morning.

A storm came through in the afternoon, making the most delightful sound as the droplets hit the greenhouse roof panels.

Just as the rain began, Dora went into her greenhouse, looking up towards the sound:

glancing at me:

and then beginning a glorious chimpanzee response to the rain – a classic pant-hoot (for a classic video of pant-hoots, go here):

Her display was short-lived. She calmly retreated to a windowsill:

Filed Under: Chimpanzee Behavior, Dora, Sanctuary, Weather Tagged With: ape, chimpanzee, chimpanzee portrait, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, chimps, chimpsnw, dora, pant hoot, photo, portrait, vocalization

Burrito in Monochrome

January 19, 2020 by Anthony

The chimpanzees’ world is full of color.

In the spring, the landscape blooms with eye-catching wildflowers and green foliage that seem to radiate color and warmth. Summers are characterized by deep turquoise skies. Crisp autumn days turn the surrounding meadows a shiny gold and decorate the surrounding forest with speckles of red, orange and yellow. Even now, in the deep winter, the muted skies and pale snow are overshadowed by the emerald tint of the numerous evergreen trees. Regardless of season, the busy Chimp House itself is always full of colorful blankets, enrichment, produce, tools, and even some sensible wall decor.

Despite all this light flowing around us, capturing compelling portraits of the chimps is usually difficult. For one thing, the chimps and humans are always separated by steel caging, a chimp-proof window or an electrified barrier. These structures wreak havoc on camera lenses and need to be focused out. Even when the chimpanzees are foraging or patrolling outdoors, they are often hundreds of feet away, obscured by dense foliage, or sprinting around the habitat (see: Missy). Sometimes, the bright sunlight creates harsh shadows that yield miserable photographs. Indoor lighting is also a challenge, to put it lightly, and using flash on an alert chimpanzee would be a horrible idea.

However, there is one place in the whole sanctuary where capturing portraits of the chimpanzees seems to be easier than anywhere else. Although it is formally known as Front Room 4, the staff often refer to one of the chimpanzees’ favorite locations as “The Portrait Studio” (1, 2, 3, 4). It’s popularity is likely due to the wide bench that is perfectly situated for looking down the hallway into the bustling kitchen and foyer. From the same vantage, they also can see out the window towards the garden, driveway, hay barn, neighboring cattle pasture, and even across the sanctuary to the opposite ridgeline. It’s a dream come true for nosy chimpanzees, but we caregivers appreciate the space for a different reason; the north-facing window bathes the chimpanzees in soft lighting that is well-suited for portraits.

When Burrito sat in that beam of diffuse light a couple of days ago, as he often does, I decided to snap a bunch of photos and then immediately forgot about them. Today, as I began to formulate a direction for today’s blog post, I rediscovered the series on my camera’s memory card. I then tinkered with the photographs in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, a program commonly used for organizing and manipulating images. Of all the edits I made, I realized that I liked the way Burrito looked without any color. Black-and-white suits Bubba well.

A century ago, most photography was monochrome (gray or sepia) by default. Now, omitting or removing the hue from an image is something photographers and filmmakers purposefully do in order to create a certain aesthetic. As far as our work at CSNW is concerned, I think such a practice has merit. By taking color out of the equation, I feel more attuned to how light flows into the chimpanzees’ home, across the imposing barriers that separate us from them, and onto their facial features. It showcases the depth of their physical space and reminds me that their world, which I can only explore in a superficial manner, has a similar profundity. Furthermore, anatomical structures like hairs, wrinkles, muscles, scars and callouses give character and topography to what would otherwise be registered as a homogeneous gray body. Perhaps this medium highlights some of their more peculiar nonhuman traits while simultaneously making such differences between us and them seem more trivial. Whatever is going on in our eyes and brains, I like portraying them in this way.

Below are my favorites from the series. During processing, I tried not to dramatically alter the overall lighting, hoping instead to preserve the reality of Burrito’s location and mood. What I did tinker with, however, was the relative luminance of the various hues in the photographs, thereby changing how colors contributed to the lightness and darkness in each. Using such a mixer enabled me to create distinct portraits that were taken only seconds apart. For perspective, you can look at the print on the wooden toy block in Burrito’s hand (which is actually dark green, but appears different in each edit). I think that each has its own tone, and perhaps tells a different story. I’ll let you all be the judges.

 

1. In this portrait, I brightened purple, magenta and red hues.

 

2. This portrait is composed of mostly green and cyan hues.

 

3. I brightened red and orange light in this version, dampening cooler hues.

 

4. For this edit, I allowed all hues to contribute equally to the image but altered the lighting as a whole.

 

5. The lighting in this version is mildly edited but I left the coloration intact.

Filed Under: Art, Burrito Tagged With: animal art, animal sanctuary, Animal Welfare, apes, black and white, chimp, chimpanzee, chimpanzee portrait, chimpanzees, chimps, great apes, monochrome, photography, portrait photography, primate, primate sanctuary, Primates, Sanctuary

Favorite staff photos

December 27, 2014 by Diana

J.B. and I played a bit of a trick on Elizabeth, Debbie, Katelyn, and Keri recently.

I asked each of them to send me their favorite photos that they had taken, with the reasoning that I wanted to do an end-of-year “staff photo picks” blog post. Our real intention was to get them a Christmas gift with their favorite photo printed on metal. Pretty sneaky, right?

It worked beautifully – they were genuinely surprised by and (I’m pretty sure) happy with the gifts. Of course they couldn’t pick just one photo each, because they are all such great photographers!! Plus they love all of the chimps so much. So I had to narrow it down from the several photos they picked. There were a variety of factors to consider, including which photos would likely look best once printed on the metallic surface.

I figured I may as well go ahead with my cover story and share the photos on the blog so you too can enjoy them.

These are the four photos I had printed for their gifts:

Debbie’s photo (Foxie):

Debbie's fav photo

 

Keri’s photo (Annie):

Keri's fav photo

 

Elizabeth’s photo (Burrito):

Elizabeth's fav photo

 

Katelyn’s photo (Foxie):

Katelyn's fav photo

 

Just because I feel the need to have all of the chimps represented, here are a few more favorites:

 

a photo J.B. took of Missy in her element:

Missy balancing on fire hose

 

Another of Katelyn’s – this one I am guessing will always be a classic of Jamie:

Jamie looking at camera holding boot

 

This was another of Keri’s picks. I really like it because of Jody’s extreme relaxed face:

Jody with relaxed face

 

I took this one of Negra in October, but it might be my all time favorite photo of her (except for the other 15 all-time favorite photos I have of Negra, taken by various staff photographers):

Negra looking at camera with night bag

 

If you have a favorite photo of one (or more) of the Cle Elum Seven, let us know – we’d love to see what your favs are too!

 

Filed Under: Annie, Burrito, Caregivers, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy, Negra, Sanctuary Tagged With: animal rights, Animal Welfare, chimp rescue, chimp sanctuary, chimpanzee, chimpanzee portrait, chimpanzee rescue, chimpanzee retirement, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, csnw, photography, portrait

More beautiful photos of the Cle Elum Seven

June 13, 2008 by Diana

Can you believe how beautiful these chimpanzees are? Imagine how great they will look once they have soaked in the sun, their hair has filled out, and their muscles are stronger. They are a remarkably calm group and they are adjusting so well to their new environment – as though they’ve been here for months.The window which looks down the driveway is definitely the current favored spot by all, and the mural painting that volunteer Julie Nealey of Posh Pallette designed and volunteer Kim Michaels painted just a couple of weeks ago makes an incredible backdrop for these photo portraits of our new friends. Scroll over the photos to see the names of the chimpanzees.

Annie and Negra

Negra looking serene

Jamie

Jody

Foxie

Missy (eating oatmeal) and Burrito

Filed Under: Sanctuary Tagged With: Animal Welfare, Burrito, chimpanzee portrait, chimpanzee rescue, chimpanzee research, chimpanzee retirement, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, Cle Elum 7, Cle Elum Seven, csnw, Missy

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Cle Elum, WA 98922
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