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Tim Laman

| Wildlife Photojournalist

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Tim Laman – Bio

Tim Laman and and Cheryl Knott following an orangutan in Gunung Palung, Borneo. Photo by Robert Suro.

Tim Laman is a field biologist, wildlife photojournalist, and filmmaker.  Since getting his Ph.D. from Harvard for pioneering research in Borneo’s rainforest canopy, his cameras have been his tools for telling the stories of rare and endangered wildlife, and revealing some of earth’s wildest places.  He has photographed on all seven continents, and regularly travels to some of the most remote corners of the earth to explore and document poorly known species.  Working in extreme environments from the rain forest canopy in Borneo to the coral reefs of Papua, and from mountain peaks in New Guinea to the seas of Antarctica, Tim spends many months a year on expeditions to study and photograph the biodiversity of earth’s richest realms.  He is most well known for his long-term work on birds-of-paradise and orangutans.  He has published 23 feature stories in National Geographic magazine, as well as worked on films for National Geographic Channel, BBC, and Netflix.  His filming credits include the BBC’s “Planet Earth II” and “Seven Worlds – One Planet”, as well as Netflix’ “Our Planet – Jungles” which was nominated for an Emmy for Best Cinematography in 2019.  Tim’s work has garnered numerous awards, including the overall prize Wildlife Photographer of the Year in 2016, twenty other winning images in that competition over the years, a 1st place Nature Story from World Press Photo, and the North American Nature Photography Association’s “Nature Photographer of the Year”.  Tim is a fellow of the Explorer’s Club and of the International League of Conservation Photographers, and is a Associate of the Ornithology Department at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, as well as the co-founder of the Birds-of-Paradise Project at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Recent Film Credits:

  • America The Beautiful (Cinematographer for the alligator sequence, Wildstar Films, Disney+) 2022
  • Woodpeckers: The Hole Story (Cinematographer, Coneflower Studios, PBS Nature) 2022
  • Wild Babies (Orangutan stock, Humble Bee Films, Netflix) 2022
  • The Mating Game (Cinematographer, Silverback Films, BBC1) 2021
  • Attenborough’s Life in Color (Cinematographer, Humblebee Films, BBC1) 2020
  • David Attenborough:  A Life on Planet Earth (Additional Camera, Silverback Films, NETFLIX) 2020 — Emmy Winner for Outstanding Cinematography
  • Dancing with the Birds (cinematographer, Silverback Films, Netflix) 2020. — Winner – Best Animal Behavior Film.  International Wildlife Film Festival 2020
  • Hunting the Helmeted Hornbill (director, cinematographer.  Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Geographic) — Winner – Best Wildlife Conservation Film.  International Wildlife Film Festival 2020  
  • Seven Worlds – One Planet, Asia (cinematographer, BBC) 2019
  • Our Planet – Jungles (cinematographer, Silverback Films, Netflix) 2019 — Nomination for Best Cinematography – Emmys and Jackson Wild, 2019 
  • Planet Earth II – Jungles (cinematographer, BBC) 2017
  • Person of the Forest (co-director with Melissa Lesh, cinematographer. A short-form film selected at over 30 festivals, winning multiple awards)
  • Mission Critical: Orangutans (DP, NatGeo Wild) 2016
  • Attenborough’s Paradise Birds (cinematographer, BBC2) 2015
  • Birds-of-Paradise – Winged Seduction (DP, NatGeo Wild) 2012
  • Great Migrations (cinematographer, Nat Geo Channel) 2009

National Geographic Magazine Credits:

Tim Laman has photographed 23 stories for the National Geographic to date. You can view all his stories in the National Geographic Gallery.

Awards:

Tim Laman’s major awards are listed on THE ARTIST page in the Fine Art Gallery.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016
Multi-award winning short film

Tim shot for two award winning films at the International Wildlife Film Festival 2020.

Dancing with the Birds
International Wildlife Film Festival
Winner of Animal Behavior
Hunting the Helmeted Hornbill
International Wildlife Film Festival
Winner of Wildlife Conservation

It’s a Tough Job, but Somebody’s Got to Do it:

Thanks to all my colleagues and team members who helped capture these behind-the-scenes photos!  Your credits are in the captions.

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Latest from Instagram:

Chasing rainbows and diving the word’s richest c Chasing rainbows and diving the word’s richest coral reefs…. Since today is World Biodiversity Day, I wanted to share some video from one of my favorite places - the Raja Ampat Islands in West Papua, Indonesia.  I’ve always been drawn to the planet’s most diverse habitats - rain forests and coral reefs.  I’m fascinated by the diversity of life forms that they can support, and the wonders of evolution that created all that diversity, and the mystery of how it all coexists.  It’s fascinating and wonderful to spend time in these places.  I’ve devoted my career to telling the stories of wild places like this and the creatures that inhabit them, and spreading the word on the importance of protecting nature.  Raja Ampat has been documented to have the highest diversity of corals and fish of any place in the world. 

Thanks for your interest and support, and I hope that together we can make a difference for the wild places and biodiversity of our planet that is worth saving in its own right, but also critical for a healthy planet!

And take note fellow underwater photographers.  There is still space on our photo workshop this August in Raja Ampat if you want to experience this amazing place and work on your photography.  Follow the link in my bio for details.  Responsible eco-tourism helps to protect these reefs.

Video by @TimLaman and @RussLaman.  #WorldBiodiversityDay, #CoralReefs, #RajaAmpatIslands, #ProtectOurPlanet, #MarineConservation, #OceanBiodiversity, #IndonesiaNature, #UnderwaterParadise, #ConservingCoralReefs, #SustainableTourism, #BiodiversityHotspot, #ExploreIndonesia @papua_explorers

Welcome

Welcome to TimLaman.com. I’m a photographer, filmmaker, and field biologist with a passion for exploring our natural world. I hope you enjoy this website, and you can also sign up for my newsletter “Wildlife Diaries” at right to get updates on my latest adventures, photo tips, and news from the field.

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