the monkey

I've been busy editing the photos (that I shot on film...what's that?) from Panama, but in the meantime I thought I would share these pictures. This endangered squirrel monkey was hanging out with his owner, an indigenous street vendor in the Casco Viejo section of Panama City, when I decided to take some photos of the owner with the monkey on his shoulder. I got closer and closer with every frame I shot, until the monkey decided he liked MY shoulder better.



I felt kind of bad after I later found out the monkey was endangered. There's only one park in Panama where they're protected. All their other habitats, especially in the Darien jungle, are being quickly destroyed, or the monkeys themselves are being taken by well-meaning street vendors to help sell their merchandise. I think these monkeys can only be found in Panama and/or Costa Rica.

Stay tuned for more photos from Panama... AND from the Northern Short Course in Warwick, RI.