New Borneo Story, and a Tale of Two Covers

I hope your 2024 is off to a good start. A highlight for me has been the publication in the Feb 2024 issue of National Geographic magazine of my story “Borneo’s Wild Green Heart”, written by long time NatGeo contributor Jennifer Holland. When so much news out of Borneo is about forest loss, this is a positive story about an amazing rainforest area that still retains its full complement of biodiversity, from orangutans to flying frogs to clouded leopards and the giant dipterocarps and other trees that create the habitat for all this life to thrive.

This story is a very personal one, since I first went to Gunung Palung way back in 1987 as a student volunteer with Prof. Mark Leighton at Harvard, and subsequently, my wife Cheryl Knott has carried on her orangutan research and conservation program there for 30 years. Our kids Russell and Jessica grew up spending summers there with us, and now things have come full circle, and Russell, a successful photographer in his own right, captured the dramatic opening shot you see below!

I hope you enjoy the article, which you can read online at NatGeo, if you don't receive the magazine in the mail.

The opening spread of my story about Gunung Palung National Park in Borneo features an image made by my son Russell, who assisted me on the shoot, and did a lot of the drone photography. Working in cooperation with National Park staff and Indonesian drone pilot Tri Wahyu Susanto, we carefully familiarized this particular orangutan with our small drone by initially flying it at a distance from her but letting her see it and get used to it over a period of days. She is a female named Bibi who has been followed regularly by the research team for many years. At first curious about the drone, she soon ignored it completely, allowing us to get into position to capture a unique image that shows an orangutan feeding high in the canopy in the context of her environment - the intact lowland rainforest of Gunung Palung.
Photo by Russell Laman (@RussLaman on Instagram).

A TALE OF TWO COVERS

Wallace’s Flying Frog is one of the most famous and unique creatures found in Borneo’s rainforest, but extremely hard to find. It can’t really “fly” of course, but has the ability to use the huge surface area of its webbed feet as airfoils, and make controlled glides between trees. In October 2000, my fourth story was published in National Geographic magazine on “Borneos Wild Gliders”, and Wallace’s Flying Frog made the cover. It was my first NatGeo cover, and a very exciting moment in my early photography career. As editor Bill Allen said to me at the time, I had proven my ability to come back with images of nearly impossible subjects, because I had managed to get photos of not just Wallace’s Flying Frog gliding, but many other curious gliding species in Borneo that featured in that story.

Fast forward over twenty years, I was back in Borneo working on the coverage for my new story about Gunung Palung National Park, and we managed to find another Wallace’s Flying Frog and capture an image mid-glide. It didn’t make the cover of the US edition this time, but as you can see above, it adorns the cover of the international edition published in Indonesia. It’s a fitting tribute to the amazing biodiversity of Indonesia, and the young Indonesian biologists who helped me in the field. I hope this story continues to build pride and enthusiasm among our Indonesian colleagues who hold the future of their magnificent rainforest in their hands.

A FEW IDEAS FOR 2024

If you are into lifelong learning, supporting good causes, and being inspired, here are a few ideas for you to consider for 2024.

1. Sign up for the “Save Wild Orangutans” Newsletter.
   savewildorangutans.org
   Every month, the team from the Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program puts out their “Code Red” newsletter reporting on their activities, discoveries, and events in and around Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. It’s a wonderful window into the lives of wild orangutans and the people working to study them and protect their habitat and ensure that the communities around Gunung Palung are also thriving. The newsletter if free, but I hope you will be inspired to become a monthly contributor. It feels good to be making a small contribution to orangutan conservation each month, even if its just the price of one fancy coffee.

2. Sign up for the “Lukas Guides” Newsletter.
   https://www.lukasguides.com
   Every week, David Lukas, a gifted naturalist, thinker, and extraordinarily curious observer of nature publishes a newsletter with his unique insights and research into a topic that takes his fancy. I look forward to these quick reads, where I always learn something that I find myself thinking about later when I’m out in the field. David’s newsletter is free, but if you find it as worthwhile to read as I do, he offers an option to be a paid subscriber to support his work and receive other benefits. Do check it out.
3. Commit to Improving Your Photography.
   Are you interested in photographing wildlife? In the photo workshops that I sometimes teach for Lindblad/NatGeo Expeditions, I find that many photographers are obsessing about camera settings and not focusing on thinking creatively in the field about the elements that make a strong wildlife image. So I created my own online course called “Bird Photography Masterclass: The Creative Process”. It could be just the thing to help you take your photography to a whole new level this year. And for being a newsletter subscriber, I’m offering you an additional 25% off the price right now. Just visit the course page at the link below, and use the code 25percent at checkout. There is also an option to give the course as a gift. Valentines day is coming up. Just saying!

As always, thanks for tuning in. I wish you all a healthy, happy, and successful 2024.
Warmest regards,
Tim Laman

PS. We continue to add new images and update our galleries at TimLamanFineArt.com throughout the year, so be sure to take a look from time to time and see what’s new. Thanks!

Where Reef Meets Rainforest

Have you heard of the Raja Ampat Islands?  They are a unique archipelago off the Western tip of the big island of New Guinea.  I’ve been intrigued by this region ever since reading The Malay Archipelago by Alfred Russel Wallace, and exploring this region above and below water has become a personal passion since my first visit in 1990.  It doesn’t hurt that the islands harbor birds-of-paradise, and the coral reefs are now known to be the richest in the world.

As a rain forest biologist and a marine enthusiast, I’m fascinated by places where the rain forest meets the sea.  Raja Ampat is a premier example of this.  In fact, it is the best I have ever seen.  The striking islets of uplifted limestone eroded by sea and weather give Raja Ampat some of the most striking scenery in Indonesia.  Here, as elsewhere, the land and sea are intertwined, and due to very little runoff from the porous limestone islands, corals can grow right up to the shore, even under overhanging forest, as you can see in the featured photo below.  I hope you are inspired to visit Raja Ampat some day, to support the growing green tourism economy there.  I certainly plan to go back as soon as possible!

There is a very unique place in Raja Ampat, where the current sweeps through a narrow channel between the islands of Gam and Waigeo.  It is known as “The Passage”.  It’s a tricky place to photograph, because depending on the tide, the water can be murky, or the current can be so strong it’s almost impossible to stay in one place.  But we got our timing right on this visit, and I was able to snorkel along the steep walls, and under the overhanging trees to look for the spot to capture the image I wanted.  Corals don’t usually grow right up under rainforest trees, because in most places where there is forest, there is too much sediment coming into the sea for healthy coral growth.  But the porous limestone of these islands yields very little sediment, so corals are thriving right under the trees.  I found my spot.  Then I waited for that extra element to add to the image.  This is also the habitat of the famous archer fish that shoots water jets to knock insects from branches into the water.  When two archer fish swam into the frame, I had my shot!

"Reef Meets Rainforest" is now Available for purchase in my Fine Art Store

THE KARST ISLANDS OF RAJA AMPAT

Paradise Islands - Wayag

This uninhabited island group in northern Raja Ampat is a spectacular example of uplifted karst limestone weathered into fantastic shapes.

Wayag Above and Below

Stag horn coral forest below, and rainforest covered mushroom islands above in the Wayag Archipelago.

Damsels in the Flow 

As the tide shifts and a high current rushes over a healthy reef of stag horn coral, thousands of damselfish emerge to feed on plankton sweeping by.

FUTURE PHOTO WORKSHOP IN RAJA AMPAT

Raja Ampat is a photographers dream.  It is also critically important to spread awareness about this region through visual imagery to support its conservation.

Underwater photographer and marine conservationist Zafer Kizilkaya (Pictured above, and see his amazing underwater photography at @Kizilkaya_Zafer) and I are developing a plan for photo workshops in Raja Ampat starting later this year if Covid allows.  If you are interested, drop us an email at office@timlaman.com.  We will keep you posted on developments as we finalize plans.

GALLERY UPDATE

The newest addition to my gallery is my “Underwater World” collection.  It’s a small selection of my favorite images that I feel have captured special moments and places underwater, including all the above images.  Please visit the gallery and have a look.  If you dream of your own past or future underwater adventures, one of my prints might just be the inspiration you need.

Stay safe everyone, and be sure to get your dose of nature therapy!

Warmest regards,

Tim Laman

Filming Loon Families in Acadia

Dear Friends,

As I reported in my last newsletter, I had a chance to spend time filming in Maine’s Acadia National Park and vicinity for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology this summer.  Besides peregrine falcons, the other primary focus was to document breeding pairs of loons and their chicks.  This was a partnership with the Somes-Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary [www.somesmeynell.org] who not only allowed us to film on their private reserve near the park, but also helped guide us to good locations for filming other pairs of loons on territories all over Mt. Desert Island, so a huge thanks goes out to Billy Helprin of Somes-Meynell.

Our video for the Cornell Lab is currently in production, but in the mean time, I’d like to share a few images.  Loons are an iconic species of the North, and a true indicator of a healthy environment, and it was a pleasure to spend time with them.  A real highlight was being able to see chicks from hatching through several weeks of age, and document their rapid growth and development.  Enjoy!

Featured Photos

Loon chicks leave the nest the day they hatch, and can immediately swim, like this one-day-old with its attentive parents.

Loon parents work hard to feed their chicks, and they grow rapidly, but sometimes the fish come so fast, they can’t get the chicks to take another bite.

When not feeding, it’s either rest on mom’s back, or practice swimming, and flapping those tiny wings!  These chicks are only four days old.

Nice afternoon light catches the loon family as the chicks rest on mom, and dad in the back is about to stretch is wings after a busy afternoon of feeding.

Photo Notes:  Like the falcon images in my last newsletter, these images are all still frames from motion capture on my RED Digital Cinema 8K camera.  Can’t wait to share the moving images with you in our upcoming short film!

Behind the Scenes

Most of our loon filming was done from shore because filming requires using a sturdy tripod.  But at this site, I shot from a kayak, with my tripod in the shallow water – it was the only way to get a view of a loon nest!

Labor Day Print Sale to Benefit Papua - Starts Friday September 4th.

Some of you may recall that last spring I ran a print sale to raise funds for the local people in Papua (the land of birds-of-paradise) who lost their income due to covid and the lack of birders and photographers like me visiting.  Thanks to you, we distributed over $3000 in aid directly to over a dozen village families we work with in the form of unemployment compensation and food care packages of rice and other staples.  Of course, we all hoped the pandemic would be under control and international visitors would be traveling to Papua again by now, but this obviously hasn’t happened.  So we would really like to be able to continue to give these folks some support. 
 
So on Sep. 4 I’m launching another print sale on my Tim Laman Fine Art store to raise funds for Papua.  Once again, I’ll donate 50% of Bird-of-Paradise print proceeds to the local people in Papua who look after their forests as a way to have a livelihood from guiding birding trips.  By helping these people, your purchase will also help safeguard the forests of Papua for the birds.  Thanks for your support!

If you are collecting my “Birds-of-Paradise Square Prints” series, then you will be happy to note we have added new images to the collection, including those above, a new image of the Greater BoP in display and the Vogelkop Superb BoP
 
Thanks for reading, and stay safe everyone!
Tim

Pursuing Peregrine Falcons in Acadia

Dear Friends,
 
This summer, my travels for several international projects were of course put on hold, but an opportunity came up with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to film birds in Acadia National Park.  I needed a team to assist me, and fortunately my two children, 16 year old Jessica, and 19 year old Russell, were home and available.  They have had many years experience assisting me in the field, so with my “quaranteam” in place and our negative covid tests in hand, we headed to Maine to isolate ourselves in the mountains and attempt to film peregrine falcons.
 
Acadia National Park is one of the places where the critically endangered peregrine falcon was re-introduced to the wild in the 1980’s, and has been successfully breeding since the early 90’s.  With the park biologists unable to do fieldwork this year due to covid, our mission was to visit two of the cliff-top breeding sites, and document how many juvenile birds had fledged, and to try to capture some footage of the young birds for a video to be produced by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  Stay tuned for that later this fall, but in the mean time, here are a few images I can share of these amazing birds.

Featured Photos

Adults like this bird only passed by a couple times a day, but were clearly distinct with their black head and white neck.

 Here you can see in detail the juvenile plumage of a falcon as it comes right toward me. The juveniles still used the cliffs where their nest had been as their home base, and came back repeatedly throughout the day.

I was lucky enough to capture a moment when two juveniles briefly flew together.  It was amazing to see the maneuverability and speed of these birds in the air, including sudden dives, turns, and even back flips.  If they decided to go into a dive and drop out of the frame, it was impossible to track them.

Looking down towards from above Valley Cove, I got this shot of a young falcon over the beautiful water of Somes Sound.

We had a couple lucky moments when young falcons landed in trees near us on the cliff top.  Russell captured this shot of a bird stretching his wings before takeoff.

For the photography nerds in the group, these images are all still frames from motion capture on my RED Digital Cinema Helium 8K camera, shot at 6K and 75fps at a 1/150 sec shutter speed.  While many frames of course have motion blur that makes the video flow naturally, there are moments when my focus, camera panning, and the birds motion all align and the frame is tack sharp.  Since each frame of 6K RED footage is a 20 megapixel RAW file, they are totally usable as still images matching the best digital SLR in quality.  Pretty amazing how far camera tech has come!  I can’t wait to share the finished video with you all through Cornell later this year.

Behind the Scenes Shots

• 

  One highlight was when Jessica and I were exploring for viewpoints along the cliff top, and this juvenile falcon landed in front of us.  Jessica hauled the heaviest tripod up the mountain, and was our chief bird spotter.

• 

  Russell reaches the top of the Jordan cliffs.  He shot on a second camera to give us two angles and more chances of capturing good behavior.

• 

  Tim filming from the cliffs above Jordan Pond – a spectacular location to spend a day.  Trying to get a falcon in the frame and in focus as it rocketed past the cliffs was a very fun challenge!

Gallery Update: 
 
LIMITED EDITIONS: COMING SOON!  -- The major project we are currently working on in the studio is preparing a selection of my very best images from twenty-five years of wildlife photography to offer as LIMITED EDITION collector’s prints.  These will be offered as 48 inches or 60 inches in width (large!), printed on archival aluminum, framed and signed, and have an edition of only 10 or 20 artworks.  We are very pleased with how our test prints have come out, and we are now working on the website prior to our launch. 
 
 
Thanks for reading.  Despite these crazy times, I hope you are getting outside like I am to enjoy wildlife and nature wherever you can!
 
Stay safe everyone!
Tim

Documenting Orangutan Diversity

An adult male Bornean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) named Jari Manis sits in the sleeping nest he has made in a small tree.

Currently, Tim is in the rainforest of Indonesia working on his orangutan project for the summer.  Part of the project is a new National Geographic story which he will document their behavior in several different populations around the country.  Check Instagram for pictures from Tim in the field.  @TimLaman

Exploring a "Lost World" in Australia

Our pilot Bungie flies his helicopter low over the rainforest and boulders of the Cape Melville Range as he comes in to pick us up from on top of one of the giant boulders and move us to a better location. Herpetologist Conrad Hoskin and were dropped off in this remote mountain range for several days, and I documented Conrad's discoveries of several new species of reptiles and amphibians, including the spectacular new "Cape Melville Leaf-tailed Gecko". Cape Melville Range, Cape Melville National Park, Cape York Peninsula

See the blog post about this expedition here.

Also see the "In the Media" page for links to various news reports about this expedition and its discoveries.

The Timeless Galapagos Islands

See a series of blog posts under "Expedition Notebook" for photos and notes from my trip working as a photo instructor with Lindblad/National Geographic Photo Expeditions.

The Story Behind a Dream Shot

This is one of my true "dream shots".  I had imagined a shot like this with a bird-of-paradise in the foreground and a view out over the rain forest for years, but never found a place where I might be able to make it.  Finally in the Aru Islands in 2010, I saw my opportunity.  But the problem was getting the camera in the right place.  I solved the problem by developing what I called the "leaf-cam", a camera well hidden in leaves, and controlled remotely.

Here is a short video that tells the story of how I set this up, and finally got the shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_ll0DbSjLE

Borneo - My Rain Forest Roots

Rhinoceros hornbills (Buceros rhinoceros) perched high in canopy with lowland rainforest behind. Gunung Palung N.P., Borneo, Indonesia.IUCN Red List: Near ThreatenedAlso, lowland rainforest is a critically endangered habitat in Borneo.

Borneo is where I got my start in exploring the tropical rain forest and getting really serious about my wildlife photography.  I first went to Borneo as a research assistant for a year.  Then I did my Ph.D. research there over several years.  I turned my Ph.D. project exploring the rain forest canopy and studying strangler fig trees and associated wildlife into my first National Geographic magazine article back in July 1997.  Since then, I have been back to Borneo over 25 times working on various National Geographic articles and other projects.  It will always hold a special place in my heart.

This photograph of Rhinoceros Hornbills in the rain forest canopy is one that I dreamed about for years.  It was actually on my very first day in the rain forest in Borneo that I saw a Rhinoceros Hornbill flying over head, way up in the upper canopy, and thought "I have to find a way to get up there to get pictures in the canopy".  It took many years for me to perfect my tree climbing skills and create the opportunity to get this shot by rigging a blind very high up in a large dipterocarp tree on a hillside near a fruiting Ficus tree.  I spent a great many hours in that blind over many days, until one day a group of hornbills stopped in this tree before visiting the Ficus, and I got this shot.

See a full gallery of my Borneo rain forest images at www.timlaman.com.

Yasuni National Park, Ecuador

Cobalt-winged Parakeets (Brotogeris cyanoptera) feeding on clay at the clay lick east of Anangu and south of the Napo River, Yasuni National Park, Orellana Province, Ecuador

For the January 2013 issue of National Geographic magazine, I was part of a team of five Nat Geo photographers including Ivan Kashinsky, Karla Gachet, David Liittschwager and Steve Winter.  We went to Ecuador for one month to document the biologically richest place on the planet, Yasuni National Park, and the important conservation issues and human cultural issues surrounding it.  Here is the feature story at Nat Geo.

You can see how all our efforts came together to tell the story in this interactive.

Also, Spencer Milsap of Nat Geo produced this video piece, which my assistant Anand Varma and I also helped to shoot.  It captures what it was like to work on this story in the Amazon rain forest of Ecuador.

http://youtu.be/tADHWKZzw9w