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.

Orangutans

Celebrating Orangutans for Earth Day

by

Earth Day is coming up April 22, and as I’ve done in the past, I’m taking this occasion to celebrate the efforts of the Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program. I use my photographs and films to help spread the word about their important work to safeguard one of the key populations of wild Bornean Orangutans in and around Gunung Palung National Park.

How about lending your support this Earth Day by:
1) Purchase an orangutan print from my store. 100% of proceeds will go to orangutan conservation work in the field. Or…
2) Visit SaveWildOrangutans.org, and make a one time donation, or sign up to be a monthly contributor, and know you are helping orangutans all year long.

Below are a few new images I’ve added to my online gallery. You can see all your options on my Fine Art Website.

It’s rare that I get this close to a wild orangutan. But one time a few years back, a big male orangutan at the Tuanan research station was traveling on the ground, and passed very close to me. I happened to be using a powerful telephoto lens, and as he paused with his hand holding this branch, I decided to capture this tight shot. We all know great apes are our closest relatives. But for me, that really hits home when I get a close look at their hands. They are amazingly similar to ours, right down to the fingernails and fingerprints. I think this image helps us to appreciate that kinship, and I hope inspires a desire to make sure we leave space on the planet for them to thrive as well.
Visit the Orangutan Gallery
[Read more…] about Celebrating Orangutans for Earth Day

New Orangutan Prints are Online!

by

As many of you know, I am a big supporter of the Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program. I use my photographs and films to help spread the word about their important work to safeguard one of the key populations of wild Bornean Orangutans in and around Gunung Palung National Park.


I also from time to time, try to use my art to raise actual cash for this NGO, and that’s where you come in. From now until Earth Day April 22, I am offering to donate 100% of profits from sale of my orangutan prints to GPOCP. So you have a chance to collect one of my prints, and make a contribution to a good cause at the same time.


Especially for you collectors who have perhaps purchased one of my orangutan prints before, I have added a few new ones to my gallery. A couple examples are below. I hope you’ll find one you like that will put a smile on your face. And thanks in advance for your support.

Waiting Out The Rain

Did you know that orangutans often make umbrellas when it rains hard? They make a couple different types, and here you can see this female has made the “cape” type of umbrella, where she just pulls a cluster of branches together over her back to let a lot of the rain roll off. Her baby doesn’t seem to be particularly well covered, however, and is just toughing it out. Umbrella making is an example of a learned behavior, culturally transmitted from mother to offspring during the long learning period that baby orangutans spend with their mothers.

Visit My Orangutan Gallery

More New Gallery Additions

“Give Me Some, Mom” A baby orangutan pulls at her mother’s face as she feeds on flowers of the Fordia tree.

[Read more…] about New Orangutan Prints are Online!

Happy Spring to All!

by

Greetings as we welcome the official first day of spring here in the North!
For you photographers in the group, especially you aspiring wildlife photographers, I am excited to announce that I have just completed the second of my online courses in my “Bird Photography Masterclass” series, and it is now live. In this new course, which I have called “Birds, Camera, Action” I share the camera settings and techniques I use for successful bird photography, especially focusing on how I shoot birds in flight.

In an effort to get sales going, and since I know some of you may be eager to get out and work on improving your bird photography this spring, I’m releasing this course with a special introductory price of only $49 for a limited time!
Follow the link below to learn more, and sign up before March 29 to get this special price.

Spring Art Sale and Fundraiser

[Read more…] about Happy Spring to All!

A New Baby Orangutan and Happy New Year 2023!

by

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year, and all the best to everyone for 2023!

As we kick off the new year, I have some exciting news from my recent trip to Borneo.  On Dec 11, as I was already packing up to depart the next morning from the research station in Gunung Palung National Park, I got word that one of the field assistants had found the female orangutan named Berani, and that she had a new baby!  Luckily, I was able to rearrange my travel to spend two days photographing Berani and her new baby before traveling home.  

Berani and her new baby, photographed on Dec 12, 2022.
[Read more…] about A New Baby Orangutan and Happy New Year 2023!

Back to Borneo!

by

Hello Friends,

Greetings from the rain forest of Borneo!  I’m writing this on my iPhone while sitting under a fruiting fig tree where the orangutan mom and juvenile we have been following have been feeding for the past couple hours, unfortunately their position is high and obstructed. Thus I have some down time here to catch you up on my latest news. 

This is my first trip back to Gunung Palung National Park since before the pandemic and it’s good to be back.  Just this morning gibbons, macaques, and orangutans have all been feeding at this tree as well as at least a dozen species of birds, including the colorful barbets, several species of which are just now calling incessantly above. 

I’m here with my wife Cheryl Knott who directs the Gunung Palung Orangutan Project and her team of students and assistants. My 18 year old daughter Jessica is working with Cheryl on her project, and my 22 year old son Russell is assisting me with filming orangutans for another major production.  It’s great to be here with the whole family and all our Indonesian colleagues working to spread the word about the amazing biodiversity that is protected in this sanctuary. 

Rhinoceros Hornbills In The Canopy
This image of rhinoceros hornbills high in the canopy of the lowland rainforest in Gunung Palung is one of my all time favorites that I made from a blind high in the canopy near a fruiting fig tree.  I love capturing shots of the rain forest wildlife in the broader landscape and the mist hovering in the canopy on this early morning created the perfect atmosphere for the image.

I’ll be spending at least three months in the field here this year also working on a major National Geographic magazine feature about Gunung Palung’s amazingly intact flora and fauna that represents the full diversity of lowland rainforest species in Borneo. 

So please stay tuned and I’ll keep sending periodic updates. It’s not easy to upload new photos from here as I have no internet connection and just enough signal to send this note out by WhatsApp to my assistant back in the US. So she will add some images from my GP archives to this newsletter and I’ll look forward to sharing new images when I can. 

Long-tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis) in the canopy of a fruiting strangler fig tree (Ficus dubia), surrounded by ripening figs.
Bornean White-bearded Gibbon (Hylobates albibarbis) in the canopy of a strangler fig (Ficus dubia) searching for ripe figs.

Have a good summer everyone, and if you you want to learn more about our conservation work here and don’t already follow us, please check out www.savewildorangutans.com.

Ways You Can Help Orangutans this Giving Tuesday

by

Dear Friends,

It’s Giving Tuesday today, and I hope you are giving some thought to how you can help out the causes you care about.  Here at Tim Laman Photography, we are supporting our long-term partner the “Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program” and their campaign “Save Wild Orangutans”.

Here are four ways you can be engaged:

  1. Make a one-time donation HERE.   https://www.savewildorangutans.org/donate/
  2. Join the Team!  Sign up to make a monthly donation HERE.  https://www.savewildorangutans.org/join-the-team/.   As a perk of being a regular donor, even for a small amount like $5 or $10/month, you will receive our “Orangutan Diaries” updates from the field.
  3. Buy an Orangutan print today.  It’s the last day of our Holiday Print Sale, and 50% of profits will be donated directly to Save Wild Orangutans.  Visit my gallery HERE.  https://www.timlamanfineart.com/orangutans
  4. Join my Live Art Sale & Conservation Fundraiser tomorrow, Dec 1 at 6PM Eastern.  I will be selling prints from my inventory here in the studio.  Half of profits from orangutan prints will also be donated to Save Wild Orangutans, and there are many unique orangutan prints in this collection.  Check my Instagram or FB tomorrow Dec 1 for details.

Mist in the Canopy, Gunung Palung

At SAVE WILD ORANGUTANS, the orangutans themselves are of course the key flagship species we focus attention on.  But what wild orangutans need is healthy rainforest habitat like the lowland forest of Gunung Palung, pictured above.  When we work to protect habitat for orangutans, we save the entire spectrum of biodiversity in the rich lowland forests of Borneo.  So please think about that as you contemplate how you can help this Giving Tuesday.  You can learn a lot more about all the ways the team in Indonesia is working toward this goal of forest habitat protection at the main website www.savegporangutans.org.

The Incredible Biodiversity of Gunung Palung

As one of the very best remaining lowland forests in all of Borneo, Gunung Palung harbors an incredible variety of creatures besides orangutans.  Here are just a few examples:

[Read more…] about Ways You Can Help Orangutans this Giving Tuesday