By Jenn Gidman
Images by Ian Plant
Photographer Ian Plant recently visited Indonesia, taking in all of the sights and sounds of this exotic group of Southeast Asian islands. He visited the island of Java to photograph the Temple of Borobudur, one of the most famous Buddhist monuments in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. "After that, I spent several days cruising the islands of Komodo National Park, photographing Komodo dragons and landscapes," he says. "Finally, I ended my trip on the island of Bali, where I hiked up the Ijen volcano two nights in a row to photograph the sulfur mining operations in the volcano's crater (the miners work at night because it's too hot during the day). Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep on this trip."
But before all of these other places, Ian traveled to the island of Sumatra, one of only two places on Earth where orangutans live in the wild (Borneo is the other). His backdrop: Gunung Leuser National Park, considered the largest wilderness area in Southeast Asia. His subjects: Sumatran orangutans—the name means "man of the forest"—a rarer, longer-bearded version of their Borneo counterparts, with only about 7,300 left in the world.
"Sumatran orangutans are protected mostly within the confines of the park," Ian says. "They're critically endangered and threatened primarily by habitat loss due to logging and development. A number of organizations work to protect the Sumatran orangutan, including the Sumatran Orangutan Society."
On this trip, Ian used his Tamron 70-200mm VC lens for most of his orangutan photography. "It turned out to be the perfect lens for these type of images, as the wide F/2.8 maximum aperture let in a lot of light in the dark rainforest," he says. "The focal length was also perfect, as I was getting a lot closer to the orangutans than I expected."
Because orangutans are arboreal mammals—meaning they spend almost no time on the ground and most of their time swinging from tree to tree in the tropical rainforest—the 70-200 proved the ideal lens for Ian's photography in the wild. "The 70-200 is a terrific handholding lens because it's so lightweight," he says. "I ended up handholding much of the time, as the uneven terrain and the fact that the orangutans were often on the move made tripod use impractical. The image stabilization of the 70-200's Vibration Compensation (VC) worked great, too."
Ian used a private guide for his orangutan trekking, starting out at first light and hiking into the jungle to seek out his subjects. "I’d spend the whole day out, coming back at sunset unless it started to rain," he says. "Sumatran rains tend to be soaking downpours, so if it looked like rain was coming, we'd have to flee the forest as quickly as possible and seek shelter."
Male orangutan, taken at F/2.8, 1/200th of a second, F/2.8, ISO 400
Although orangutans tend to be more solitary than other primates, Sumatran orangutans have more fruit available to them and are therefore more social than their Borneo relatives as they gather their meals. And, Ian notes, they're quite tolerant of humans. "The orangutans I saw would even swing overhead on the trail, just a few feet away from me," he says. "It was an amazing experience and provided me with plenty of photo opportunities."
Male orangutan, taken at F/4, 1/200th of a second, ISO 400
One of the main challenges of photographing under the canopy of the rainforest, however, was how dark it could get. "High ISOs and wide-open apertures were often necessary, so the 70-200's maximum F/2.8 aperture came in very handy," Ian says. "Also, the light was often a mix of shadows and light, which meant that there was a lot of contrast to deal with. I used flash at low power to add a hint of fill light to my subjects and to help balance the exposures."
Baby orangutan, taken at F/3.5, 1/200th of a second, ISO 400
Whether they were swinging from branch to branch or nestled into a tree, Ian tried to include the orangutans' surroundings wherever possible to create compelling compositions that showed them on their home turf. "That’s why I like working with the 70-200mm, as it allows me to easily zoom out and take a wider view," he says. "Composition is very important to me, so I kept an eye out for interesting shapes and lines to include in my composition. I also paid close attention to their mannerisms, waiting for a moment when they did something revealing or something that told a story."
Baby orangutan, taken at F/7.1, 1/200th of a second, ISO 400
Photographing all day in the Sumatran rainforest proved to be hot and humid work—"and I got bitten by more mosquitos than I care to remember!"—but the end results justified the means. "It was all worth it to be able to take pictures of these amazing animals," Ian says.
To see more of Ian Plant's work, go to www.ianplant.com.