Primates
Kingdom: Animalia 
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Chimpanzee Ngamba Island: Chimpanzee Sanctuary & Wildlife Conservation Trust, Uganda
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Mountain Gorilla Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda
It took 6 hours of hiking to reach this group of gorillas and then another 5 to return to base. |
My first trip to Africa was in 1999 at the age of 18. After graduating high school at Amherst Regional I had one thing on my mind: Traveling (Thanks Uncle Dan). At first this was a vague concept of just leaving Amherst, Ma, but after some research into various countries and continents my mind could not let go of how much I wanted to glimpse into the life of a Mountain Gorilla. From this lonely concept my mind started to solidify around this point and that is how I went to Africa. But from where did this desire to see Mountain Gorillas come from? That I did not understand at the time of my first trip, but only in hindsight many years later. The rush of memories came back to me upon rediscovering a certain 20page kids book, adequately titled, Mountain Gorillas. When flipping through this book of hidden memories certain words rushed to the forefront of my memory as a child: lush, green, vivid, moist, stoic animals, languidly reaching out to feed upon the bounty at hand. From a child’s book my path was set.
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Chimpanzee + Angolan Coastline. Rehab-Pet. Quissama National Park, Angola
This double exposure was an accident of poor film labeling that launched me into a new photo technique. I quickly started to purposefully develop photos with double or triple exposures. |
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White-handed Gibbon, Mae Hong Son, Thailand |
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These remarkable brachiators (primates that move by way of swinging from tree branch to tree branch) were rescued from the pet trade and are now living at a sanctuary. |
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Japanese Snow Monkey, Macaca fuscata |
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These pictures were taken during my internship with the Texas Snow Monkey Sanctuary, managed by the Animal Protection Institute. This primate sanctuary is located in Dilley, Texas.
If you are wondering why there is a primate sanctuary in Texas, please visit their web page to find out more information. As an intern I was directed and motivated
by a woman of incredible character and strength, Louis Griffin. My activities at the sanctuary included rehabilitating animals and general population, blow darting,
vaccinations, census work, and
fixing and building cages, chemically
immobilizing animals with ketamine for health inspection and measurements,
cleaning, feeding,
and enrichment for rehab primates and general population, and computer
troubleshooting and database management.
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After working with Japanese Snow Monkey’s in a sanctuary it was always my dream to visit them in their natural environmental, the rugged mountains of Japan. That dream came true in November 2005.
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As with any primate, it is much much easier to watch habituated animals rather then completely wild one’s. I have seen many primates species in completely wild scenarios, but have gotten few photo’s. This very reason is what brought me to Jigokudani Yaen-koen (Wild Monkey Park in Hell Valley) in the province of Nagano. The snow monkeys are quite used to people and are abundant during wintertime when the hot springs are most attractive. Take a look anytime at the Wild Monkey Live WebCams. If you don’t get the chance to visit Nagano, you can also see some urban snow monkeys in one of Kyoto’s parks.
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Lighting wasn’t the best so I opted to create a vivid-contrast picture in black and white.
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Primate
Photo’s Continued (Page2)