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.

News

The Orangutan and the Honey Tree – a glimpse into the orangutan mind.

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I’ve been going to Borneo’s Gunung Palung National Park for a long time.  I first went as a research assistant in 1987, did my PhD research there in the early 90’s, and have returned nearly every year since, working alongside my wife Cheryl Knott and her orangutan research team, photographing and filming the stories of GP’s orangutans and other wildlife.  The amazing thing is that even after nearly forty years, every visit brings some new revelation.  I was there for a short trip this July, and this trip was no exception.

As the unofficial photographer for the National Park as well as the GP Orangutan Project, park Director Pak Anto had asked me to try to capture some fresh images of new baby orangutans that had been born since last year’s mast fruiting event, especially a youngster named Kibar that he had had the honor or naming.  Despite being on a short personal visit, I had great luck, and the team located Kibar, traveling with her mom Kabar and older brother King, a few days after I arrived.  I was excited to be able to capture some nice images of this playful youngster.

Kibar with her mother Kabar

The highlight of my visit however, happened when the male named Tunjuk passed right by the camp one afternoon while I was there downloading my photos from the morning.  I hadn’t seen Tunjuk before – a younger male, who had been unflanged for many years, but now was starting to develop his cheek flanges.  Excited by the chance to photograph this male in the rare transitional stage, I grabbed my gear again and started following him with the crew.  What transpired over the rest of the afternoon was one of the most direct glimpses into the mind of a wild orangutan that I have experienced.

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Wild Birds Revealed – Atlantic Puffins

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Did you know that Atlantic Puffins fly underwater? They aren’t the most elegant or acrobatic of fliers in the air. They seem to have trouble getting airborne on their small stiff wings, and pretty much fly in straight lines. But underwater, those same wings give them the power and maneuverability they need to chase and catch fish.


My son Russell and I went to Maine this past July to try to film puffins both above and below water, and had a fun time doing it. We hired a lobster boat, and went out to Petit Manan Island, one of their nesting sites. As puffins came and went from the island, and rafted up to rest in the water around the island between hunting for fish to feed their chicks, we took our chances to capture our footage. Russell even went in the water and snorkeled with the puffins to get some underwater shots. You can watch the video we made as part of our series Wild Birds Revealed for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology on their YouTube channel. In this video series, we not only reveal interesting aspects of bird behavior, but we also reveal how we got the shots. In this case it included Russell donning a puffin decoy on his head to help him approach the puffins. Check out the video HERE to see how he did! I hope you enjoy it.


I’ve selected a few of my favorite stills from the project for you below. It was fantastic to spend some time with these charismatic little seabirds who were once down to a few individuals on the Maine islands, but now number in the thousands due to successful conservation efforts! If you ever have a chance to go watch them yourself, I encourage you to do it!

The Puffin Run

In order to help them get enough speed up to get airborne, Atlantic Puffins have to get a running start. They start flapping their wings against the water, and run along the surface with the orange webbed feet flailing until they finally get up into the air. I knew that the flying spray and footprints left in the water would make for a fun action shot, so I kept watching for a puffin that was about to take off perpendicular to our bouncing lobster boat. It was a beautiful sunny morning with the water taking on the blue of the sky when I got my chance and captured this shot.

Atlantic Puffin Gallery

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Wild Birds Revealed – The Slow Motion Beauty and Skill of an Osprey’s Dive

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Dear Friends,
Greetings! First off, don’t miss signing up for my Live Event on Sep 25 at 1 PM Eastern Time with the Cornell Lab! Russ Laman and I will be sharing the stories behind our new video series Wild Birds Revealed. (And just for signing up, you’ll be entered to win a free pair of binoculars. Plus you will get a link to watch the recording of the event later even if you can’t attend live!)

Back in late May, my son Russ and I went up to coastal Maine at the height of the alewife run, when these fish travel upstream from the ocean to spawn in freshwater lakes. Osprey and other predators gather at choke points like river mouths or rapids to take advantage of this bounty, and we used this opportunity to capture footage of the action. Our goal was to use both still photographs and a super slow motion camera called the Chronos 4K that shot 1000 frames per second, to reveal the details of the ospreys hunt. If you haven’t seen it, I think you’ll enjoy the video HERE.

The Osprey Dive

One of my goals with this osprey photography project was to freeze the moment just before the osprey hit the water with a still image. The slow motion video featured in the short film does an amazing job of revealing detail, but a still image still adds something. By freezing a moment in time, it allows you to really soak up the details, like the way the osprey reaches its long legs out in front of its eyes, and folds its wings back just before impact with the water. It took many long hours of waiting and watching ospreys flying around and trying to be ready when they started their dive. Then the hardest part was tracking them with the lens as they dove, and keeping them in focus, because it was not easy to guess which way they would dive, and they often veered one direction or another at the last second. So when I captured this in-focus image just before the osprey hit the water, I was very happy!

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Celebrating 40 Years of the Cabang Panti Research Station

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Dear Friends,
This week, colleagues old and new have gathered in West Kalimantan, Indonesia to commemorate 40 years of active research in Gunung Palung National Park, known as the Cabang Panti Research Station.


I personally have been going there since 1987 – which is hard to believe but was 38 years ago. I first went there as a research assistant to professor Mark Leighton, who established the site in cooperation with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences and other local authorities just a couple years before that. Spending a year in that remote location as a young student changed my life to say the least. After my stint as a research assistant, I returned to carry out my own PhD research there. And as my focus shifted from science to photography over the years, I have continued to work there, documenting the incredible biodiversity of this very special lowland rainforest area, and the research program of my wife Cheryl Knott.


Since 1994, Cheryl has been the lead researcher at “GP”, and her long-term orangutan research and conservation program, now extending over 30 years, is one of the longest running in the world. Our kids grew up going there with us almost every summer, and are both involved in work there to this day.


So as we recognize this 40 year milestone, I want to remind you of the benefits of long term field research at Gunung Palung and at field research stations around the world. There are many. Of course when studying long-lived animals like orangutans, the long time-frame yields important insights, but I won’t expand on the scientific results here. Even more tangible are the human and conservation benefits. Well over one hundred Indonesian students have spent time at the research station carrying out undergrad or masters degree projects, as well as dozens of International students. Many have gone on to careers in conservation and education. Also, the presence of the research station has been a successful deterrent to illegal activities like logging inside the park, and hundreds of people from surrounding communities have found employment related to the research station and conservation activities and have become part of building a sustainable future for the park and its neighbors. Cabang Panti has in fact been recognized by the Indonesian government as a model research station exemplifying the benefits of international cooperation.


Please enjoy the gallery below which I hope gives you a little sense of how special this place is. It has brought together a diverse community of people around a shared passion for conservation, and the appreciation of the treasures of global biodiversity. My hope is for its continuing success.
If you’d like to learn more or get involved in supporting the next 40 years at Gunung Palung, please visit the GUNUNG PALUNG ORANGUTAN CONSERVATION PROGRAM (this link: https://savegporangutans.org/) or their engagement portal at SAVE WILD ORANGUTANS (this link: https://www.savewildorangutans.org/)

CABANG PANTI RESEARCH STATION

The Cabang Panti Research Station base camp is located here deep in Gunung Palung National Park, reached by a days journey by small boat up this river, or by a 14 kilometer hike from the nearest road. It is situated in lowland dipterocarp rainforest, with access to many different forest types ranging from peat swamp to montane forest within a short hike from the camp. It is thus uniquely situated for research on the full spectrum of Borneo’s unique biodiversity from primates to trees.

—— THE BEAUTY OF GUNUNG PALUNG ——

One of many waterfalls on the parks numerous rivers.
Morning mist in the rainforest canopy.
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Happy Spring to All!

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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

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Happy New Year 2024

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As we start the new year, I’m taking a few moments to look back and reflect on a some highlights from the past year.  It has been a rewarding year of great adventures and conservation photography projects.  I’ve selected a few photos to share as a little visual review of the year.  Thanks for following along, and hope you enjoy it!

A Few Highlights from 2023

King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) swimming underwater. Macquarie Island, Subantarctic Island of Australia

5 Feb 2023:  On the way to Antarctica on a Lindblad/National Geographic Expedition trip I found myself in a Zodiac surrounded by swimming King Penguins off the coast of Macquarie Island.  Not having an underwater camera housing with me, I trusted in the waterproofness of my iPhone, submerged it and fired as fast as I could.  This is one of the resulting shots.  And yes, the phone still works!

Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao cyanoptera) the Mesoamerican subspecies, endangered in Mexico, comes in for a landing in the rainforest of the Lacandon Jungle, in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve. Chiapas, Mexico.

12 April 2023:  On assignment for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology I filmed the work of the organization Natura Mexicana and their efforts to conserve the endangered Scarlet Macaws in the Montes Azul Biosphere Reserve in southern Mexico.  Our conservation film to help spread awareness about their work will be coming out in 2024.

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Fall Splendor in New England

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The fall colors have just peaked where I live in Massachusetts.  I hope wherever you are you have been enjoying the change of the seasons.  After a lot of time overseas this year, it has been nice to be at home for a while this fall.  What do I do when I’m not out on assignment, you ask?  A few things that have been keeping me busy are:

  • Editing a National Geographic magazine story, coming out in Feb. 2024.
  • Developing a pitch for a new orangutan documentary.
  • Creating a new online Masterclass in Bird Photography (sneak peak below).
  • Furthering my partnership with Windowsight – a way to display my photographs on your blank TV.
  • Creating six different bird-themed calendars for the holiday season.

But when I need my nature fix, I head out into the woods, often to my favorite local haunt, Walden Pond.  It’s always possible to find beauty and inspiration even at this modest natural area outside Boston.  Below you’ll find a few images that I made there within the past week.

Walden Pond Double Sunrise

It was the first night of the season when the thermometer dipped to freezing, and since the water was still much warmer than the air, I knew there would be early morning mist on Walden Pond.  I arrived before sunrise, and hiked around, looking for interesting compositions.  This brilliant maple caught my attention, backlit by the rising sun.  By moving my camera position slightly, I could control the sunburst effect, created when sunbeams pass through a small gap in the leaves directly into the lens.  To my surprise, I discovered a camera position where I got two sunbursts – one from the sun itself, and another from the suns’ reflection in the glass-calm pond surface.  The result is the image you see here – my favorite from that beautiful morning.

“Walden Pond Double Sunrise” is not in the print store yet, but if anyone is interested in a print, just drop us a quick note at studio@timlaman.com.

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