The Wildfire Photographer of the Year, American Tim Laman, won with a striking image of an orangutan climbing a wild fig tree in the Indonesian rain forest.
Laman, who’s also an American biologist, has been documenting the great apes for years now, and it was his orangutan image that superseded nearly 50,000 submissions from 95 countries to win such a prestigious prize at the London Natural History Museum’s 52nd competition, USA Today noted.
Laman told a London audience on Wednesday that he had always wanted to capture an image like this one, called “Entwined Lives.”
According to USA Today, Laman went through a lot of trouble to add the image to his portfolio. With the help of his wife, he followed an orangutan to a tree in the Gunung Palung National Park in Borneo. He then pulled a climbing rope up the tree and attached three cameras to it. When the endangered orangutan returned, Laman was able to capture the image by controlling the three cameras remotely.
“For me it’s been a long time dream to have success in this competition,” he said. “It’s very satisfying for me that this winning picture came from the same place….where I started my serious wildfire photography career.”
“If an image could create a poem, it would be like this. It should certainly inspire a few lines,” said Lewis Blackwell, chair of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year jury, per Digital Rev. “The image epitomizes what the judges are always looking for – a fresh observation on our natural world, delivered with artistic flair.”
An exhibition of entries will open Friday at the Natural History Museum, and then from there it will continue its tour across the UK and internationally, making stops in Spain, Canada, the USA, Germany and Macau, according to The Daily Mail.
Said Sir Michael Dixon, director of the Natural History Museum in London:
“Wildlife Photographer of the Year highlights some of the big questions for society and the environment: How can we protect biodiversity? Can we learn to live in harmony with nature? The winning images touch our hearts, and challenge us to think differently about the natural world.”
Laman currently resides in Boston. He taught himself photography as a college student while working in Gunung Palung National Park. He’s also a past award-winner in the competition.