New Galleries Including Birds-of-Paradise!

Tim Laman Fine Art is pleased to announce our new updated gallery including some of Tim’s most iconic images of Birds-of-Paradise.  Now, all prints will be personally signed by Tim in the white border below the image. 

We know many of you have been waiting for this, so thanks for your patience.  Now is your chance to own and brighten up your home or office with a signed, Tim Laman original print of the world’s most incredible birds.  If you don’t see your favorite Bird-of-Paradise image in the gallery, just email us at studio@timlaman.com.  We will be adding more soon and are taking requests!

Buy This Print Now!

Tim sends out personal emails to keep you up to date on his current projects, like the new website for selling his prints.  Now all of Tim's prints will be autographed.  Please check back often to see additional galleries of Tim Laman's work. 

Browse Tim Laman's Art Galleries

Spring Greetings from the Tim Laman Studio!

Dear Friends,

I have an exciting announcement.  One of the major filming projects I worked on recently will be released Friday April 5, 2019 on Netflix!  Called “Our Planet” it is an epic eight-part natural history series, including a “Jungles” episode featuring a sequence I worked on with Bird-of-Paradise Project colleague Ed Scholes.  We were approached by Silverback Films, the company producing the series for Netflix, about ideas for Bird-of-Paradise behaviors that had not been filmed before.  We pitched the idea of trying to capture the display of the Western Parotia from the point of view of the female.  I’m happy to say we were able to deliver, and in fact, our filming produced a reveal that was even more dramatic than we had imagined…. see below. We are especially excited to be a part of this film because it carries a very strong conservation message, and we believe that the Birds-of-Paradise can be great ambassadors for the protection of New Guinea’s rain forests.

Parotia’s are Birds-of-Paradise that display on a court on the ground, and are typically filmed from a ground level viewpoint, like in the top photo.  This gives a wonderful view of the male’s dance, but is not what the female sees.  She always watches from the perch above the male, and what she sees is clearly what is important in terms of the evolution of this remarkable display that occurred through female choice.  Over the course of more than a month of filming, we positioned remote cameras in many different positions around the court, including straight above.  Eventually, we managed to capture the view looking down over the female’s shoulder at the male.  At the climax of his performance, he plunges his neck in a way that flashes his bright breast shield up toward the female, producing the striking view you see in the image below.

Netflix has already released our Bird-of-Paradise sequence as a “Digital Exclusive” which you can check out on YouTube.  But be sure to catch the full film on Netflix if you can after Friday.  It was all filmed in 4K, so if you have suitable TV you will really be able to enjoy all the detail. 

Gallery Update: 

We are continuing to develop our Tim Laman Fine Art online gallery.  Our big plan for April is to launch a collection of my favorite Bird-of-Paradise images, made available as signed prints for the first time.  We will be offering a series of affordable 12 inch square prints (sneak preview above), as well as traditional large format prints for those with a little more wall space.  So please stay tuned for that announcement. 

Birds of Sunnylands: 

For any of you in Southern California this spring, please note that my exhibition commissioned by the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands is ongoing in their visitor center until June.  After making eight trips over two years to complete this project to document the diverse birdlife of their sanctuary in the Coachella Valley, it was very exciting to finally have a chance to visit earlier this year and see the gallery in person (photo below).  The positive reaction it was generating with guests was also very satisfying to see.  I hope you will have a chance to check it out in person, but if not, you can always view the images in my online gallery.

Thanks for reading and all the best,  Tim

Newsletter #3

Dear Friends,

2019 is off to a roaring start with an amazing voyage to Antarctica. I’ve been sharing images on my @TimLaman Instagram feed, so I hope you have been enjoying those.  A real highlight of the trip was spending New Year’s Eve cruising down the Lemaire Channel in perfect calm conditions as the sun set, and then watching it rise a few hours later.  I’ve shared one of my favorite images from the trip below.

Helmeted Hornbills have been a major focus of my wildlife photojournalism efforts these past couple years, and in addition to the National Geographic story published last September, I’m pleased to report they are featured as a cover story in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s magazine LIVING BIRD. This remarkable species is critically endangered, is still hunted for its casque, and we really need to increase awareness among consumers to not purchase hornbill products. If you’re not a Lab member who gets the magazine already, you can read the story here:  Helmeted Hornbill Story.

Lemaire Channel Sunburst – New Year’s Eve

It was a little after 10 PM on New Year’s Eve, and the conditions in the Lemaire Channel were the best I’d ever seen in my five visits to Antarctica.  Glassy calm, interesting ice floes, and the sun peaking through clouds hitting the mountain peaks.  As our ship, the National Geographic Explorer neared the heart of the channel, I could see the sun hitting the sea ice ahead, and I knew it was going to pop out from behind the mountain.  I secured a place on the rail, and checked my camera settings.  I wanted to use a very small aperture (f16) in order to get the sunburst effect when the sun edged into the frame around the mountain.  As the ship passed into the sunshine, I fired a burst of images, and with this frame, got just the result I had imagined.  The sun didn’t set until after midnight (12:08 AM to be exact) and rose again shortly after 2AM.  It never got dark, and I was up photographing the pink dawn light before 4AM…. sometimes you have to sacrifice a little sleep for your photography, especially at 65 degrees South latitude.  But I hope you will agree it was well worth it. 

Gallery Update

We have just created a new gallery of my favorite images from the latest Antarctica trip, so please check it out here (New Antarctica Gallery).  We have also added a new gallery of some of my favorite bird images, called “The Wonder of Birds”, and will continue to add more galleries, so please enjoy, and perhaps consider purchasing a print to support my work. 

Looking ahead, the year is taking shape with plans to continue working on projects in Coiba National Park, Panama, back in Gunung Palung in Borneo, and in Papua on Birds-of-Paradise.  Stay tuned! 

On a personal note, one of the most special things about the Antarctica trip was to be able to take my daughter Jessica (15) along as my cabin-mate.  My work often takes me away from home for long periods, but being able to do something special like this is one of the perks of my sometimes crazy life.   

Best wishes to all of you for 2019, 

Tim

Happy New Year!

As I write this, I’m headed South to finish off 2018 and start 2019 with a voyage to Antarctica as the National Geographic photographer aboard the Lindblad/NatGeo ship “National Geographic Explorer”.  It will be my fifth trip to Antarctica, and as always, I travel to the white continent with a great sense of excitement for the photographic potential, and for the chance to spend time in such a spectacular part of our planet.  Since wintery scenes always seem so appropriate for a holiday greeting, I’ve chosen one of my favorite images from a past Antarctica trip and will share its story with you here.

I made this image on my first voyage to Antarctica back in 2009.  We were cruising into the Weddell Sea when we spotted a massive, strangely shaped iceberg.  On approaching with the ship, these ice towers reminiscent of Monument Valley revealed themselves.  As we circled this natural ice sculpture, probably formed underwater and then surfacing when the iceberg flipped over, I saw the handful of Adelie Penguins, and framed my shot to include them at the bottom edge of the frame.  I love the way they give a sense of scale to the image, as well as instantly telling the story that we are in Antarctic waters.  I believe the success of the shot comes from using a long zoom to isolate this portion of the wider scene.  Photography is as much about what you leave out of the frame as what you put in.

I’ll be sharing brand new work from this Antarctica trip on my Social channels (IG: @TimLaman, FB: TimLamanPhoto), so please follow along.  In case you would like to see more of my past work from Antarctica, we have also just uploaded a new gallery to my Fine Art website, www.timlamanfineart.com, so please enjoy the gallery.  We’ll be adding new galleries all year long of both my favorite archival images as well as new work, so check in once in a while, and thanks for your support.

Here is wishing you all a more peaceful world in 2019 where we collectively put a higher priority on taking care of our beautiful planet, and being more kind to each other!

Warm regards from Antarctica,
Tim

My New Newsletter

Dear Friends,

I’ve decided to use this format to share my work with you, where I can go beyond the brevity of social media and give you a little more.  I’ll share a favorite photo and the story behind it, and keep you up to date on my major projects.  So welcome and thanks for following along on my journey.

Over the past two years, I’ve worked on a unique project that has recently come to fruition: “The Birds of Sunnylands”.  In 2016, I received a unique commission from the Annenberg Foundation.  The mission was to document the birdlife of the Sunnylands Center and Gardens, their sanctuary in the Coachella Valley, California, to create a gallery exhibit for their visitor center.  So in 2017 and 2018, I made eight trips in different seasons photograph birds there.  I really enjoyed this project.  While very different from my remote editorial work on subjects like Birds-of-Paradise or Orangutans, it allowed me to focus on the artistic aspects of my photography, and as always, to try to create images that share the beauty of the natural world and inspire people to care about leaving space on this planet for wildlife.

Dining By Moonlight - Anna's Hummingbird

It was early October in the Coachella Valley, and as usual, I was out before sunrise.  As I passed a row of honeysuckle bushes where I had often photographed hummingbirds, I noticed the full moon beginning to set behind them just as glow of dawn cast a little light on the flowers.  I knew the hummingbirds would be starting to forage, and I had an idea -  a hummingbird silhouette against the moon.  The trick was to get a hummingbird in the right spot before the moon disappeared.  I found some flowers that lined up with the moon, got ready to shoot, and as the hummingbirds began their foraging rounds, I gambled that one would come to that cluster of flowers.  My efforts were rewarded, and I captured this unique shot. 

The above image, along with fifty other images from this project, are now on exhibit at the Sunnylands Center through next spring.  They are printed in large format on recycled aluminum that I have to say looks pretty stunning.  So I hope if you are in the Palm Springs area at all this winter, you will take the opportunity to check out the exhibit. 

I’d also like to take this chance to announce that in order to allow people to purchase the same beautiful metal prints that are on exhibit at the Sunnylands Center this winter, we have set up a new online store called “Tim Laman Fine Art”.  Please have a look, if for no other reason than to see a broader selection of this work.

Tim Laman Fine Art

Finally, I’ve taken the liberty of adding you to my email list because we have met or corresponded in the past, but of course, you are free to unsubscribe below if you wish. 

Thanks for reading and all the best,  Tim

Tim Interviewed by USA Today

This morning USA Today published a story on National Geographic's Travel Flash Sale featuring Tim's image.  Josh Hefner says, "National Geographic is synonymous with great photography, and few craft its jaw-dropping images like Tim Laman."

The article describes Tim's photo of two Japanese macaques in a hot spring.  His picture (above) is part of National Geographic's flash sale that ends tomorrow.  You can purchase Tim's signed image by going to National Geographic Creative's webpage.

Learn Wildlife Photography From Tim Laman

Check out Tim Laman's latest publication "The National Geographic Guide to Landscape and Wildlife Photography".  Tim prepared 12 lectures on wildlife photography while renowned photographer Michael Melford has 12 lectures on landscape photography.  Tim teaches the practical, technical and artistic aspects of wildlife photography while showing you how he took some of his world famous photographs.

The Great Courses provides multiple options for learning.  There is a monthly or annual online plan or you can purchase the lectures on DVD.  The 4 DVDs come with a 248 page course guidebook.  Check out The Great Courses website to watch the trailer or start a free trial.

”Entwined Lives” – The Story Behind the Photo

An endangered young male Bornean Orangutan climbs over 30 meters up a tree deep in the rain forest of Gunung Palung National Park, West Kalimantan, Indonesia (Island of Borneo).

In October 2016, it was my honor to win the “Wildlife Photographer of the Year” award with an image of an orangutan climbing a tree in Gunung Palung National Park entitled “Entwined Lives”. It’s been a few months now since the award, and I would like to share the story behind this image and what this image means to me.

As a wildlife photographer, it was of course a career highlight to win this award - the most prestigious in our field. But for me, it was particularly special because I made the image in Gunung Palung National Park (GP) in Indonesian Borneo. GP is a place that I have had a personal relationship with for nearly thirty years, since I first went there as a research assistant in 1987, and I care deeply about its conservation. Not only did I do my Ph.D. research at GP, but I also photographed my first National Geographic articles there. Not only that, but I am married to orangutan researcher Cheryl Knott, I have been going to GP with Cheryl (and more recently our kids) nearly every year to help with her ongoing orangutan research and conservation program (see www.saveGPorangutans.org). This picture is one of six photos of mine on the theme of orangutan conservation that won first prize in the Wildlife Photojournalism Story category of the competition. All six are now part of the traveling exhibition of the top 100 images that goes to sixty venues around the world. Thus, I am hoping that the exposure from winning this contest and the travelling exhibition will bring some positive attention worldwide to Gunung Palung and the plight of orangutans.

This image has a very unique perspective. In fact, people say they have never seen an orangutan picture like this ever before. So I thought I would take the chance to share what went into making this shot. I have actually had the idea of trying to photograph an orangutan up in the canopy with a wide lens for a long time. Gunung Palung has one of the very best remaining areas of lowland rainforest in Borneo, and intact primary forest is so important for orangutans. I wanted to capture a photograph that really showed the orangutan in the forest it depends on, and convey that feeling of the connection between them.

But getting a camera into position to get this shot was a challenge! This is a wild orangutan and would never tolerate me up in a tree near him. So the only way to get a photo like this is to use a hidden remote camera. The problem is, orangutans are not that predictable and travel through hundreds of different trees in the forest every week. So as I followed orangutans from the ground with Cheryl and her team, I was always looking for the right situation to try this. The only thing somewhat predictable about orangutan ranging is that if there is a tree with a lot of fruit in it, they may visit it several times over multiple days. My hope for getting a shot like this was to find such a tree and then climb and set up remote cameras when the orangutan had left, and hope he or she would come back. Luckily, I had developed the skills to do this as part of my PhD fieldwork in Gunung Palung between 1990-1992 on strangler fig trees, when I did a lot of tree climbing for my research. It was then that I perfected my techniques for rigging ropes in trees and climbing them with rope-ascending equipment, and these skills have been part of my “tools of the trade” as a rain forest wildlife photographer ever since. In fact, soon after I started doing serious wildlife photography from up in trees in the 1990’s I had the idea of photographing a wild orangutan close-up with a wide lens and even carried out some failed early attempts in 1994. So my recent efforts are the result of dreaming about such a shot and mentally planning it for 20+ years.

In 2014, when I arrived at Gunung Palung, one of Cheryl’s students, Robert Rodriguez Suro, had found a good fruiting Chaetocarpus tree that orangutans were repeatedly visiting. I climbed it with ropes and mounted two DSLR’s cameras, hidden in camouflage, and then we had a long stake-out. Every day for about a week, I would climb the tree early in the morning and put out the cameras with fresh cards and batteries. Then photographer Trevor Frost, who was assisting me at the time, waited under that tree for orangutans to show up while I was following and photographing other orangutans elsewhere in the forest. I think Trevor read a lot of books that week while he waited! We had a number of opportunities when orangutans showed up, and Trevor fired the cameras with a radio control. But things didn’t go perfectly. We had range problems with our signals reaching up into the dense canopy so the cameras wouldn’t always fire. And the orangutans seemed to spot the cameras and take circuitous routes into the tree and avoid passing near the camera. Every night, I would climb the tree again and recover the cameras, and see if we had anything on the cards.

All that effort produced one shot that was “almost” there, of a female orangutan named Jumi passing pretty close to the camera one day. The shot (see below) really had that feel I wanted of being up in the canopy with the orangutan, but unfortunately, her face wasn’t visible, and the orangutan was not quite close enough, so it just didn’t quite work. I knew, however, that the concept was viable after this experience, and was determined to keep trying. I just needed the perfect tree, and cameras that were better hidden.

Sequence of photos from remote camera of Jumi, adult female, climbing down from Chaetocarpus tree (Chaetocarpus sp.)Bornean OrangutanWurmbii Sub-species(Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii)Gunung Palung Orangutan ProjectCabang Panti Research StationGunung Palung National ParkWest Kalimantan ProvinceIsland of BorneoIndonesia

In 2015, we were back in Gunung Palung, and this time, the orangutan, Walimah, led me to an even better tree, the one where I finally got the shot I had dreamed of. It was an Artocarpus tree with a strangler fig (Ficus stupenda) growing on it. The fig tree had a large crop of ripe fruit that had attracted Walimah. She was soon followed by a young male named Ned, so there were two of them in the tree feeding. This tree was unique, because its crown was not touching any other neighboring trees, so the only way an orangutan could get to the fruit was to cross over from a small tree to the lower trunk of the tree, and then climb up the fig roots into the canopy. Perfect. When I saw the orangutan do this, I knew this was the best chance yet to get my shot. When the orangutans left after that first feeding session, I rigged a rope and climbed the tree and prepared camera positions. This time, I decided to use small GoPro cameras that were easier to hide, and could be controlled by wifi from the ground. For the next three days, I climbed the tree several times a day. Putting cameras out pre-dawn, and recovering them later. Walimah and Ned both visited each of those days, so I had a few chances to get the shot I wanted.

To get the prize-winning still image that appears here, I used the time-lapse mode on the GoPro, shooting two frames per second when the orangutan arrived and started climbing up the tree capturing a series of images as the orangutan approached and passed the camera position. Many of them were blurred, and on some visits, the orangutans climbed around the back of the trunk out of sight of the camera. But one of the frames, just as the young male Ned passed near the camera, captured the perfect moment of an orangutan in his element.

I like the title “Entwined Lives” for this image, and I have Roz Kidman Cox to thank for that as she came up with it. For me, it captures my goal to show the connection and interdependence of species in the rain forest. The fig tree depends on its host tree for support - the orangutan depends on the fig tree for food - and by analogy of course, they depend on the entire forest ecosystem. I do believe that photographs can have an impact on people’s appreciation of and understanding of nature, and I hope people will realize before it is too late, how much our human lives are “entwined” with nature on this planet.

Early morning fog/mist over the lowland dipterocarp rainforest of Gunung PalungGunung Palung Orangutan ProjectCabang Panti Research StationGunung Palung National ParkWest Kalimantan ProvinceIsland of BorneoIndonesia

[ To learn more about orangutan conservation and research at Gunung Palung and what you can do to help, check out Cheryl Knott’s website at www.saveGPorangutans.org]

New Species Discovered In Lost World

If you missed Tim's article in Australian Geographic you can now read it online.  In the Cape York Peninsula of Australia, the boulder fields are a spectacular sight.  Tim and biologist Conrad Hoskin traveled by helicopter to discover new species during their expedition.  You can read the article on Australian Geographic's webpage - Cape Melville's Lost World.

The boulder fields and rainforest of the Cape Melville Range, with Araucaria trees rising above the rest of the forest.Cape Melville Range, Cape Melville National Park, Cape York Peninsula

Birds of Paradise on BBC Planet Earth 2

Tim shot for the BBC's Planet Earth 2: Jungles episode which premiered in the UK last night.  It included two species Tim is very familiar with, the Wilson's Bird of Paradise and the Red Bird of Paradise.

Red Bird-of-ParadiseWaigeo Island, West PapuaIndonesia

Not only did they capture the beautiful behavior they also discovered something new.  For the first time they recorded the Wilson's Bird of Paradise from the top down which is the point of view of the female.  They were able to see the beautiful display the male preforms in the way it was intended.  To view behind-the-scenes footage of their discovery, visit the BBC Planet Earth II website.

Stay tuned for the premier of the Jungles episode in the US at the end of January.

Orangutans - Out on a Limb Published in Dec 2016 NatGeo Magazine

It's been several years in the works, and I'm happy to share that my latest National Geographic magazine story "Orangutans - Out on a Limb" has just appeared in the December 2016 issue.  Check out the Dec print magazine, or one of the digital editions online or on your iPad to see the extra videos.

LINK TO ARTICLE ON NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM

The article, by Mel White, features new discoveries about orangutans by researchers such as my wife Cheryl Knott and her team (learn more about their work at www.saveGPorangutans.com), and many other researchers.  Also, the realities of orangutan conservation are also dealt with.  I'm really proud to have this come out, and hope you will all take a look and get engaged in this important issue.

Tim to Speak at Wildscreen

On Friday October 14 Tim will speak at Wildscreen's photography day.  He will give an innovative presentation about his long term project photographing wild Orangutans and the conservation issues surrounding them.  Here is Wildscreen's webpage for the photography day where you can purchase tickets to Tim's talk.  wildscreen.org/photography

Red fox vixen in front of Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge. Avon Gorge, Bristol, UK. March

RED Digital Cinema Interview

Tim was on assignment for the BBC filming birds of paradise for Planet Earth II and he shot mostly with the RED Epic.  RED Digital Cinema interviewed Tim about the RED Epic video camera which you can read via the link below.  The camera has such a large sensor he was able to get some amazing stills pulled from the video.  Read the interview to see how this amazing camera helped in filming the Red Bird of Paradise.

Tim Laman Talks Stills and Motion Capture with RED.

Get the Story Behind Tim's World Press Photo Win

Recently at the World Press Photo awards in Amsterdam, Tim talked about the difficulties of photographing Orangutans in the wild and the conservation issues that face them.  See his interview below.Tim's story 'Tough Times for Orangutans' won 1st place in the nature stories category of the World Press Photo awards this year.https://vimeo.com/album/3956223/video/167151513

Mission Critical: Orangutan On The Edge Premiers on Earth Day

This Friday at 9 pm, the Nat Geo Wild Channel will premier Tim's show on Orangutans.  As you can see below, if you check out their website now you can view clips from the show along with a slideshow of Tim's images.  Learn about Orangutans and Tim's mission to save them at Nat Geo Wild's website.

National Geographic Traveler

Tim's pictures were featured in the April/May issue of National Geographic Traveler magazine.  The story was written by his wife and 2 kids about their summer adventures to Borneo as a family.

World Press Photo Win

Tim's orangutan story has won 1st prize for the Nature Stories category in the 2016 World Press Photo Contest!  You can see his winning story "Tough Times for Orangutans" on the World Press Photo website.

Flashback Japan - feature in Japanese National Geographic

Happy 20th Anniversary to National Geographic Japan, the first international edition of National Geographic magazine!

In honor of their anniversary, National Geographic Japan created a special section called Flashback Japan in their December 2015 issue, and I am honored to be featured.  They selected one of my images from my story about Japanese Winter Wildlife, originally published in the January 2003 issue of National Geographic.  Here is the spread from Japanese National Geographic. I have provided an English translation of the Japanese text below.

Here is the English translation of the text on the spread above, published in Dec 2015 National Geographic Japanese edition:

Deer and Sea Ice, Hokkaido, Japan

One morning, photographer Tim Laman was exploring the remote coast of Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido. While he was making landscape photographs of the sea ice, several deer appeared, walking along the beach. "I became very excited at what they might add to the composition," Tim said.

Laman, a world-class wildlife photographer, is also a field biologist with a doctorate from Harvard. He says, "I like to capture images showing animals in their landscape." After a while, two of the deer, coming from opposite directions, met and gently touched noses, perhaps in greeting. "It was a brief moment, but I snapped the shutter and captured it."

Japan is a second home to Laman, because he was born and grew up in Japan -- in Tokyo, Sasebo, and Kobe, due to his father's job. So the story, Japan's Winter Wildlife in NGM 2003 January issue, was like a dream come true. "I wanted to show the broader world the beauty of nature in Japan. I chose the winter season for its clean beauty," he said.

On his assignment, he worked in Nagano, Iwate, and Hokkaido, to capture monkeys in Jigokudani or swans in Lake Kussharo, and many other subjects. Tim says some of his favorite photographs are those of Red-crowned Cranes in Kushiro Shitsugen wetland. "Sunrise on the river, and the roosting cranes backlit through the mist. Or a couple making a mating call as snow gently fell through the air. I had many unforgettable moments."

Borneo Is Burning - Photos

Below are some pictures of the fires and its effects from 3 weeks ago.  Indonesia recently received some rain but the fires are still a threat.

DCIM100GOPROG0035034.

See the National Geographic New article:  Photos: Indonesia's Rampant Fires Threaten Rare Orangutan.

Borneo Is Burning

Yesterday, National Geographic News posted Tim's photo story on their website, Photos: Indonesia's Rampant Fires Threaten Rare Orangutans.  A couple of weeks ago Tim was on assignment in Indonesia photographing the devastation.  He was on the front lines where people were desperately trying to put out the fires.  Not only is this a huge ecological disaster threatening orangutans and other wildlife but it is also effecting the air we breath.  Check out Tim's Instagram (@TimLaman) to see other pictures of the wildfires.  To see more pictures of the endangered orangutans the fire is threatening, visit Tim Laman's Wild Orangutan gallery.