A day in the life The world is a book; those who do no travel only read one page (St Augustine of Ippona)

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

Worldwide | Saturday, November 5, 2011 | 5 photos

Say "Borneo" and images of wilderness come to life; snake-infested jungles, headhunters, orangutans and multi coloured hornbils. Unfortunately exploitation is increasingly becoming associated with Borneo, the "quick buck" provided by palm oil lures local landowners to sacrifice primary rainforest. It was said that in colonial times an orangutan could swing from one side of Borneo to the other without touching the ground. Now the ancient rainforests have fallen to the axes of capitalism; every year the land dedicated to palm oil plantations grows exponentially, to the expense of what has always been the habitat of some of the most diverse fauna on the planet. Orangutan and Proboscis monkeys are forced to retreat into the shrinking pockets of rainforest mercifully spared by plantation entrepreneurs.
However life goes on. The area around the Sungai Kinabatangan river in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo is still home to diverse animal species. My pictures aim to capture the life remaining in the forest rather than the ongoing destruction, I have tried to recreate a day portraying 5 different species in 5 different moments of the day.
2 years ago I decided to I wanted to dedicate my life to wildlife photography; since then I have traveled the world capturing images of nature and its inhabitants. I am completely self-taught and believe some time in the field with a professional will give me a hint of the technicalities needed to achieve my goal of becoming a professional myself.