A Bornean orangutan on a fearless quest for figs: Tim Laman’s greatest {photograph}

I was following orangutans in Borneo with my spouse, Cheryl Knott, a primatologist who has spent 30 years working in Gunung Palung nationwide park, within the Indonesian a part of Borneo. I’m a biologist by background, and did my PhD analysis in rainforest ecology in Borneo, earlier than I went into images and film-making. I noticed a lot destruction within the rainforest again within the 90s, and it dawned on me that I may publish scientific articles that perhaps 10 folks would learn – or an article in Nationwide Geographic that 10 million folks would see.

I used to be getting more and more severe about my images whereas engaged on my PhD once I bought funding from the Nationwide Geographic Society for discipline analysis. By means of that connection, I used to be in a position to present them my photos and finally I printed an article within the journal about my work, which in flip meant I used to be in a position to get an task to doc Cheryl’s orangutan PhD.

This fruiting fig tree was distinctive, in that it didn’t have any branches connecting it to different bushes, so the orangutan needed to climb proper up the roots rising on the trunk to achieve the cover. I had been fascinated by getting an image like this for years: a large shot trying down on an orangutan in its habitat. I used to be on the bottom when one first handed me and I believed: “OK, it’s going to come back again tomorrow – there’s loads of fruit there.” I went and bought my gear, climbed the tree and rigged up three digicam mounts with totally different viewpoints.

Whereas it was nonetheless darkish the following morning, I put the cameras up and, over the following three days, one other two orangutans visited. I had a distant management on the bottom so when the orangutan was climbing, I triggered the digicam. Had I been up the tree myself, I might by no means have gotten the shot.

I do loads of chicken images, typically from hides. You successfully must make your self invisible to get a shot. However that doesn’t work with orangutans. I’ve constructed hides up within the cover the place I’m completely camouflaged and birds, gibbons and monkeys all come, not noticing me. However an orangutan at all times is aware of you’re there.

They aren’t aggressive towards folks, usually. I’m drawn to them as a result of they’re one of many nice apes – our closest family members – however they’re a lot more durable to {photograph} and research than, say, chimpanzees or gorillas, as a result of they spend little or no time on the bottom and don’t reside in social teams.

This picture received me the Wildlife Photographer of the Yr award in 2016. I believe its success is as a result of perspective. Many of the orangutan photos I’ve taken have been with a protracted lens from down on the bottom, or from a hill with an eye-level view. So having the ability to get a large shot trying down – that’s most likely what captured the judges’ curiosity. There are such a lot of nice wildlife images on the market: to win, you want to shoot one thing in a singular manner.

I do every kind of nature images, from underwater to massive mammals to bugs. But when I needed to choose one factor, birds are my largest ardour. It’s important to be affected person, maintain attempting new issues and placing within the time, ready for the animals to indicate up, for good mild, all that stuff. There are undoubtedly irritating moments: like attempting to {photograph} a chicken of paradise, sitting in a conceal for every week, they usually by no means come again. Otherwise you don’t get any good behaviour to seize. Or it rains. There might be occasions once you spend every week, get nothing and have to surrender. Nevertheless it beats sitting in an workplace in entrance of a pc all day.

Tim Laman’s CV