Tim Laman

| Wildlife Photojournalist

Wildlife Diaries

The Wildlife Diaries newsletter is the best way to keep up to date with Tim Laman’s latest work and travels, and to learn about photography and natural history as well. Read through his recent posts here or sign up to receive the posts via email using the form on the right.

Wildlife Diaries

Underwater Photography Workshop in Raja Ampat

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Dear Friends,
This is a special announcement for the underwater photography enthusiasts out there! As those of you who have followed my work for a while probably know, although I do a lot bird and primate photography, I am also passionate about exploring the underwater world with my cameras, especially to document the diversity of life on coral reefs.


My underwater stories for National Geographic have included “Fiji’s Rainbow Reefs”, and “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish – Why are Coral Reefs So Colorful” (yes NatGeo cleared the title with Dr. Seus), as well as other projects mixing topside and underwater coverage, like “Mangroves” and “Biodiversity Hotspots – Philippines”.


My favorite place to dive, ever since I spent considerable time there working on two stories for German GEO magazine in 2007, has been the Raja Ampat Islands of West Papua, Indonesia. This region has the highest coral and fish species diversity on the planet, and reefs that are in excellent health. It also doesn’t hurt that these islands harbor birds-of-paradise (which can be seen on morning excursions from the dive resort).


I am thus excited to announce that later this year, I will be leading two Underwater Photography workshops with my good friend and colleague Zafer Kizillkaya. You can read more about the workshop and learn how to sign up at this LINK. There are two sets of dates: 20-29 August on the live aboard Coralia, and 31 Aug – 10 Sep at the resort. If you are interested, please sign up soon. Space is limited, and spots have begun to fill already.


Meanwhile, below are a few images I shot during last years photo workshop.
Raja Ampat is one of the top diving destinations in the world, so if you are interested in improving your underwater photography, why not join us in Raja Ampat, a true paradise for underwater photography?
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at studio@timlaman.com as well.

The Colors of Raja Ampat

The reefs of Raja Ampat are bathed in rich currents, and under the protection of an overhang like this, soft corals often flourish, creating incredibly lush and colorful scenes. I found this spot on one of our last dives last year. I liked the windows to the blue water behind that added depth to the image, so I settled down and patiently waited for a fish to pass by. Eventually, as my air was getting a bit low, several surgeonfish swam past, and I managed to capture one perfectly framed in the opening. It’s this kind of small detail that can elevate an image above the ordinary that I am always striving for in my photography.

A Few More Recent Shots from Raja Ampat

Anemonefish are a very fun subject to photograph, and they are abundant and diverse in Raja Ampat. Here two Spine-cheek Anemonefish hang out in their bubble-tipped anemone.

One of the very charismatic and approachable photographic subjects common in Raja Ampat are schools of sweetlips like these guys hanging out on the reef.

The fish life of Raja Ampat is incredibly rich, even right under a jetty. Many villages have banned fishing near their villages to attract fee-paying divers. This has worked out as a win-win. Reefs are protected, villagers get income, and divers have amazing dive sites to visit.

A Glimpse Behind the Camera

Here is my co-leader, extraordinary underwater photographer Zafer Kizilkaya (@kizilkaya_zafer on IG) working his magic over a healthy coral garden. Join us in Raja Ampat this year, and we’ll help you improve your photography while you also enjoy some spectacular diving. If you have a housed dslr and strobes like Zafer, great, but if you have a simpler camera system, that is also totally fine and we will help you get the most of it.

Thanks for tuning in to my adventures. If you know any Underwater Photography enthusiasts who may not get this newsletter, please feel free to pass it on…. I really appreciate it.
Take care everyone, and be sure to get your dose of nature therapy! I hope to see you later this year in Raja Ampat!


Warmest regards,
Tim Laman

Back in Borneo to Start the New Year

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Happy New Year and greetings from Indonesia! I am excited to be writing to you from the town of Ketapang on the island of Borneo, our jumping off point as we prepare to head into Gunung Palung National Park.


We just celebrated the new year with the whole team from the Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program, known as Yayasan Palung here in Indonesia, and are preparing to head up to the research station in the park where I have spent so much time over the years.

This is Year 30 of my wife Cheryl Knott’s orangutan project and so our focus on this trip is two-fold. First, we want to capture this historic achievement of this long-term project by filming the various team members sharing their stories. Our timing is also exciting in that there is a major mast fruiting event going on it the forest. This phenomenon only happens about once every five years, when trees of all different species fruit in synchrony. So our second objective is to film orangutans and other wildlife feasting on this bounty.


It’s exciting to be starting off the new year with this important project and to have a chance to spend time with family, friends, and colleagues old and new in the rainforest of Gunung Palung. You are welcome to join us virtually by visiting www.savewildorangutans.org. (There is more info below).

I look forward to sharing new content from this trip with you all in a future update, but in the meantime, here are a few favorite images from my Gunung Palung archives.

Rhinoceros Hornbills in the canopy. One of my favorite shots of all time when everything came together after a pre-dawn tree climb near a fruiting fig. Three hornbills in the foreground, perfect mist in the canopy in the background….
Male orangutan with leaf umbrella. During a rare orangutan follow where this male tolerated me nearby as he fed on termites on the ground, I was in position to catch him pull this leafy branch over his head as is started to rain.
[Read more…] about Back in Borneo to Start the New Year

Amazon Update

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I just got home from a National Geographic Photo Expedition on the Upper Amazon where I was serving as a “photography expert”, teaching and helping others with their wildlife photography. From our home base on the beautiful boat, the Delfin II, we ventured out in skiffs to explore tributaries and oxbow lakes teaming with birds, monkeys and sloths in Peru’s Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. This reserve is located just beyond the end of the Amazon proper, where it splits into two big tributaries, the Ucayali and the Marañon.


Below are a few images I captured during the trip to give you a little overview of the amazing diversity of life that we encountered during our relatively brief seven day trip. Hope you enjoy it.

Cormorant Liftoff

On this Amazon tour, we spent most of our time looking for wildlife from the skiffs, and there were ample chances to photograph waterbirds along the river courses. On the Pacaya River, there were hundreds of cormorants, but if they did take off, most flew directly away from us, not making for great images. I kept my eye out for one that was taking off perpendicular to us, and tried to track it as it launched. These Neotropical Cormorants need a bit of a run and hop along the water’s surface to get airborne, so I framed the shot including the big splash behind the bird that he created with big push of his tail. A high shutter speed of 1/4000 sec froze every drop of water in mid-air. I love “freezing a unique moment in time” with a still photograph, so this was one of my favorite shots from the trip. Although many cormorant takeoff photos will be made, this exact photograph will never be repeated.

Glimpses of Life in the Amazon

[Read more…] about Amazon Update

Report from the World’s Richest Reefs

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Dear Friends,
Greetings from New England where it’s that beautiful time of year when the the forest bursts into fall colors. I’m overdue to share with you some new images from another very colorful part of the world – the Reefs of Raja Ampat.

Back in August I had the pleasure of co-leading an underwater photo workshop at the Papua Explorer’s resort in the Raja Ampat Islands with my good friend Zafer Kizilkaya, a leading underwater photographer from Turkey. I’m happy to report that the reefs of Raja Ampat continue to be vibrant, lack significant bleaching, and are teaming with fish. The diving industry there is thriving, and local communities are benefiting, which is great to see. Many villages are protecting reefs and creating no fishing zones, and profiting from fees paid by visiting divers.

If you are interested in joining us, we will be having our next workshops at Papua Explorers in August and September 2025, including a workshop on the live-aboard “Coralia”. To learn more send me an email at studio@timlaman.com, or send a query via the Papua Explorer’s website (papuaexplorers.com).

A Kaleidoscope of Life

Toward the end of one of our last dives of the trip at an amazing dive site called “Blue Magic”, I ducked under an overhang to get out of the current, and was confronted with this incredibly colorful scene. I loved the vibrant colors of the soft corals, crinoids, tunicates, and other creatures. The multiple windows to the blue beyond added great depth and interest to the potential photograph. I just needed a fish in just the right spot to create a silhouette in one of the windows to add that extra little something to the image. So I settled down and waited, taking test shots to get my lighting just right (the foreground is lit by two flashes). Before my air supply ran too low, a surgeonfish passed in just the right spot, rewarding me for my patience with this image.

Riches of the Raja Ampat Reefs

Zafer Kizilkaya swims over a healthy reef of Acropora hard coral. It’s awesome to see the abundance of healthy coral in Raja Ampat.

[Read more…] about Report from the World’s Richest Reefs

New Film and Story: Saving Mexico’s Endangered Macaws

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Last year I had an assignment from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to go to Chiapas, Mexico, and work with the non-profit group Natura Mexicana, to make a short film about their work trying to save the endangered Scarlet Macaws. My son Russell joined me as our second cameraman, and we worked with the awesome team from Natura Mexicana to document their work and the beautiful macaws. Our film is now finished and is live on their website: https://www.naturamexicana.org.mx


Natura Mexicana are taking a unique approach to a challenging situation. Poachers are stealing chicks for the illegal wildlife trade. Other solutions having failed, the conservationists are pulling young chicks from the nests before the poachers get them, and hand-rearing them. It’s a labor of love, but its working and over 200 chicks have been raised and released. Adults don’t make good pets, so once free and wild, the birds are safe from poachers.
You can read the full story on the National Geographic website


Ultimately of course, these drastic measures are only a stopgap solution. We need to educate people and remove the demand for wild-caught parrots as pets so this illegal wildlife trade will end. It was great to have the opportunity to work with Russell to help tell this story, and I hope you will watch the video and read the story and share it with others. Awareness and education is the only way we can eventually solve this problem.


Below I share a few more images from our coverage in Mexico.

Primary Colors in Flight

Scarlet macaw in flight
I love photographing birds in flight, and a water tower at the research station provided me an elevated viewpoint where I could photograph macaws coming and going from some of their favorite trees. I like this image because I managed to capture the spectacular Scarlet Macaw with its wings and tail fully spread out as it came in for a landing, revealing the full extent of its striking primary colored plumage.
[Read more…] about New Film and Story: Saving Mexico’s Endangered Macaws

When I use the “Spray and Pray” Technique

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I hope your summer is off to a good start. I recently returned from a trip serving as the “National Geographic Photography Expert” on a small-ship expedition to Norway’s Fjords and Arctic Svalbard with Lindblad Expeditions. It was exciting to see my first-ever polar bears and walruses. But as a bird photography enthusiast, I was especially enthralled by the seabird nesting cliffs where we were able to see thousands of murres, kittiwakes, and even a few puffins nesting.

During the voyage, my duties were to help guests get the most out of their own photography by giving talks and sharing examples of my own photography during the trip. I’ve heard some photo instructors who make fun of people who “spray and pray” with their cameras. In other words, just aiming their camera toward the subject and shooting a long burst hoping for something interesting. Well, as I share in the example below, there are times when combined with a little thought about framing, this approach actually makes sense – like when you have a swirling mass of birds and you want capture a moment with them in nice positions within the frame. Every technique has its place!

Bear Island Pinnacle

This scene captured the feeling of rich arctic birdlife for me. Super strong winds prevented us from approaching the nesting cliffs on Bear Island by zodiac, but the views from the ship itself, while not offering close views of the birds, were very dramatic. The clouds pouring down from the plateau above, the backlighting, and the dramatic pinnacle all added to the shot. But for it to be a successful image, I needed to have a satisfying arrangement of the birds. This of course was impossible to control, so my solution in a situation like this with the birds swirling is to just shoot a lot of images, sometimes known as the “Spray and Pray” technique. I then went through a couple hundred shots and chose this frame, which had a nice balance of birds around the frame and one nicely positioned right over the pinnacle.

Arctic Seabirds of Svalbard

Here are a few additional shots of seabirds I photographed around the cliffs of Bear Island and Svalbard.

[Read more…] about When I use the “Spray and Pray” Technique
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