A Bornean orangutan on a fearless quest for figs: Tim Laman's best photograph

'While it was dark, I climbed up and put remote control cameras in the tree. I'd never have got the shot if I'd been up there. An orangutan always knows you're there'I was following orangutans in Borneo with my wife, Cheryl Knott, a primatologist who has spent 30 years working in Gunung Palung national park, in the Indonesian part of Borneo. I am a biologist by background, and did my PhD research in rainforest ecology in Borneo, before I went into photography and film-making. I saw so much destruction in the rainforest back in the 90s, and it dawned on me that I could publish scientific articles that maybe 10 people would read - or an article in National Geographic that 10 million people would see.I was getting increasingly serious about my photography while working on my PhD when I got funding from the National Geographic Society for field research. Through that connection, I was able to show them my pictures and eventually I published an article in the magazine about my work, which in turn meant I was able to get an assignment to document Cheryl's orangutan PhD. Continue reading...