Tim Laman

| Wildlife Photojournalist

Wildlife Diaries

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A Moment of Nature’s Beauty: The “Bird-of-Paradise Sunrise”

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Dear Friends,

To celebrate the launching of my Limited Editions prints, I’d like to share a behind the scenes video about how I made what is perhaps my most famous image, the Bird-of-Paradise Sunrise. 

This video from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, featuring my colleague Ed Scholes and me, tells the story behind this shot.

Featured Photo: Bird-of-Paradise Sunrise
There have been rare moments in a long career in the field, when the image I had pre-visualized in my head came to life, and in fact exceeded my expectations (which are pretty darn high by the way).  This is one of those moments.  At least a week of effort went into planning and executing this shot. Every day I climbed, in the pitch black before dawn, first the tree where the bird had been coming to display. There I rigged a remote controlled camera camouflaged with a leaf wrapper.  After I rigged the camera, I descended and climbed a second, neighboring tree while it was still dark, and perched in a little blind with my laptop, connected by cable across the canopy to the camera.  When the male arrived that morning, it was before sunrise.  But he stayed, calling and displaying, and when the sun popped out and lit up the bird and the mist in the canopy, I saw the scene come to life on my screen and I made this image.  When you are in the field and in the heat of the moment, you often aren’t sure exactly what you have.  But this time I really knew at that moment I had captured a very special image.  I can still remember how my heart raced.  This image has been a double page in National Geographic, and it has won top honors in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, but I am most proud of the role it has played in helping to elevate Birds-of-Paradise as the ambassadors for conservation of rainforest of the New Guinea region.  
Limited Edition Prints are Now Available

The first group of 14 images in my new Limited Editions series are now up on my website and available to view and order.  Please have a look.

  • The Mara River Leap, Wildebeest herd crossing the Mara River, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
  • Male Blue Bird of Paradise foraging.
  • Red-crowned Cranes (Grus japonicus) awaking at dawn on the mist covered Setsuri River, Hokkaido, Japan. IUCN Red List: Endangered Species