Celebrating Orangutans for Earth Day

Orangutans

Apr 14

Written 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.

More New Gallery Additions

“Mother’s Pride”

Do orangutan mother’s feel pride in their offspring? We don’t know for sure, but they are certainly dedicated mothers who care for their babies for eight years or more until they are able to be independent. That’s the longest dependency of any mammal except humans!

“Relaxing - Tapanuli Orangutan”. This is an adult male Tapanuli Orangutan in his prime. Tapanuli is the third species of orangutan (after Bornean and Sumatran), and only recognized formally in 2017. The Tapanuli Orangutan is only found in one small population in Sumatra of about 800 individuals.

For you photographers out there, are you keen to get out and do more bird photography this spring? Are you still working on mastering your camera skills? I have a course for you called “Birds, Camera, Action”. Or perhaps you are ready to get more creative and take your photography to the next level? I have a course for you called “Getting Creative”!
Follow the link below to learn more.