Go behind the scenes with a photographer at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and find out the secret of the “serious” photos taken of a chimpanzee named Burrito.
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JODY!
I woke up thinking that I should feature Jody on the blog today. She’s a bit more elusive than some of the other chimpanzees, so we don’t get as many photos and videos of her.
She does have her routines, though.
Today, we spread a forage on the hill at lunch, and Jody, true to form, collected the food she wanted, came back inside, and emptied it on the deck while she sat on the lower part of the platform in the greenhouse.
Then, she spent some time relaxing – we often see her in this position:
She did a little self-grooming:
Graciously allowed me to take some close-up photos of her beautiful face:
Volunteer Lynn and I were talking about Jody’s very round eyes that often appear to be hopeful or excited about something:
She soon retired to the cooler playroom for a post-meal siesta:
A Study in Annie Chimpanzee
Chimpanzees are not known for being delicate, but Annie somehow manages to be graceful and elegant, particularly when she is having a quiet moment to herself.
Eyeful of Beauty
Everything that is made beautiful and fair and lovely is made for the eye of one who sees. ~ Rumi
Portraits of Burrito and Jamie:
Taking some photos up a notch
I really like black and white photos. I think it lends a more intimate feeling to portraits – you can really concentrate on the person’s facial features and wonder about their personalities and their pasts without the distraction of color.
We’ve been getting some great close-up photos of the chimpanzees lately plus I found a few that we hadn’t posted before, so I thought I would render some in black and white and sepia.
What do you think?
This is a close up of Annie’s eyes:
Annie:
Foxie:
Jamie (I just love this photo that Katelyn took – it’s great in color and sepia):
Jody:
Burrito:
Missy:
Last, but never least, Negra:
Professional Photographers in the Making
Back in August, I posted some photos taken by winners of the photography experience at the sanctuary that was a popular item at our HOOT! gala. So popular, that we gave it away twice to the top two bidders. A few weeks ago, the second pair of bidders came to have their experience.
I’m very happy to say that a couple of their photos will be featured in our 2015 calendar! The calendar is done, I’m just (anxiously) awaiting a proof so I can list it for sale in our Zazzle store. If all is well with the proof, you’ll be able to buy the calendar starting Tuesday.
Big big thanks to Dean Rutz and Karen Ducey, the professional photographers who gave their time and lent equipment for this incredible experience!
It was very difficult to choose among the amazing photos, but below are a few of my personal favorites.
Jamie taken by Liz:
What a shot! Jamie seemingly flying, taken by Connie
Jody with a bountiful breakfast, taken by Connie:
This one of Connie’s I also really like because we don’t have many photos of Foxie and Negra together:
And here’s another one by Liz of Negra with “Negra light“:
Thanks Connie and Liz for bidding on the Photography experience and to Karen and Dean for making it happen and giving such great instruction to these professional photographers in the making!
This might be a good time to mention that we are in need of a hard drive for our chimp house computer. Our automatic back-ups stopped working, which means all of the photos taken in the last couple of weeks haven’t been backed up yet. I added a hard drive to our wishlist if there’s someone out there who would like to help us out! It’s on sale right now through Amazon Prime. Thanks for taking a look!
Chimpanzee Feet
Because a few people commented that they liked the photo of Annie’s hand posted on the blog a couple of weeks ago, I thought I’d post some chimpanzee feet photos I took recently. Like many of you, I really love chimp feet, in part because of their opposable big toe (obviously).
Missy has very petite feet. I often ask to see her feet and she sticks her toes through the caging to tickle my hand:
Annie frequently holds her feet together when she’s relaxing:
Foxie sometimes sits with her legs wide apart and her feet pointed in. Of course she has a troll nearbyf. Her right foot looks like it’s missing the small toe, but it’s just tucked underneath her foot.
Here’s one of Annie’s hand (she has long, slender fingers), and Jamie’s sturdy feet.
