King Penguins , Salisbury Plain , South Georgia . Canon 5D SR , 500mm F4 . Two second slow pan . #canon #canonphotography #canonuk #penguin #penguins #birds #birdphotography #wildlifephotography #wildlife
Girl from Orang Rimba (Kubu) tribe , Sumatra , 1998 . Canon Eos 1 , 70-200mm F2.8 , Ektachrome 100 . In July ‘98 I had a remarkable encounter with this hunter-gatherer tribe in the rainforest . I was the second ‘outsider’ ever to meet them . They were the first beautiful humans I’d ever met and the event had an immense impact on my life . I took about 80 frames and this portrait was the best . Last September I returned to Sumatra to try and find this girl . What transpired was extraordinary , exhilarating and utterly heartbreaking . The film will broadcast soon on BBC2 . #bbc #bbc2 #canon #canonphotography #canonuk #portrait #sumatra #photography #photooftheday #palmoil #palmoilfree #orangrimba #warsi
Orang Rimba child , Sumatra . Canon 5D SR , 70-200mm F4 . Not all these displaced people now live in government or NGO permanent housing . The majority squat in temporary shanties in oil palm plantations . The irony is sickening . They scavenge the fallen fruits and try to find work in the villages but find integration difficult . They are ostracised and persecuted . One man told me ‘it doesn’t matter , we will stay here until the forest grows again and everything will be good again’ . I nearly wept . For the whole story watch ‘Chris Packham ; In Search of the Lost Girl’ , BBC2 , Sunday 9pm . #canon #canonphotography #canonuk #photography #photooftheday #sumatra #orangrimba #portrait
Orang Rimba Boy , Sumatra . Canon 5D SR , 70-200mm F4 , 1.4X . With their forest home gone some of the tribe have moved into permanent homes . The loss of their nomadic lifestyle and the lack of need to hunt and forage for food has had significant effects socially and psychologically . I spent a sweaty hour in this settlement and the expressions of my subjects tell the story with a desperate poignancy . See more this Sunday at 9pm on BBC2 ‘Chris Packham – In Search of the Lost Girl’ . #canon #canonphotography #canonuk #sumatra #orangrimba #potrait #palmoil #palmoilfree #photography #photooftheday
Orang Rimba camp , Sumatra . Canon 5D SR , 11-24mm F4 . When I asked why these camps were carpeted with plastic I was told that the tribe was used to eating food from leaf ‘plates’ which when empty would be dropped onto the jungle floor to decompose . They have yet to adjust to plastic which they drop and doesn’t decompose . The switch from remote hunter-gathering to settlement on the edge of villages is too much in less than a generation . ‘Chris Packham : In Search of the Lost Girl’ BBC2 , 9pm , Sunday . #sumatra #palmoil #palmoilfree #photography #photooftheday #portraitphotography #canon #canonphotography #canonuk
Orang Rimba , Sumatra . Canon 5D SR , 11-24mm F4 . Thankfully a few of the tribe survive in Bukit dua Belas forest reserve . Although their existence is precarious as illegal deforestation and contact with local villagers is rife they still have a harmonious relationship with the environment . They still eat from leaves , and when discarded they decompose . Their carpet is beautiful . See more on BBC2 at 9pm on Sunday , ‘Chris Packham – In Search of the Lost Girl’ . #canon #canonphotography #canonuk #photography #photooftheday #portrait #sumatra #palmoil #palmoilfree
Woman and child , Peterkun village , Sumatra . Canon 5D SR , 70-200mm F4 . It’s one track that runs to where the jungle was and where an illegal gold mine is . In 2000 a family group of Orang Rimba came here to trade . They had begun to harvest valuable Ratan fruits from the forest and sold them . With no bank for their cash they bought gold jewellery and their entry into commercial trade and non functional trinkets was their undoing . They were robbed and murdered by three men from a nearby village . But was the girl one of the dead ? I visited the graves and spoke to the men who found the bodies . ‘Chris Packham : In Search of the Lost Girl’ is on BBC2 Sunday 28th at 9pm . #portrait #photography #photooftheday #canon #canonphotography #canonuk #sumatra #palmoil #palmoilfree
Girl in Peterkun Village , Sumatra . Canon 5D SR , 70-200 F4 . When I was in Sumatra in ‘98 this village barely existed. It was rainforest . For miles and miles . The forced resettlement (transmigration) from Borneo into Sumatra has brought millions from poverty to poverty . The indigenous Orang Rimba have little or no resources left in this area and a key group were murdered soon after my visit . I stayed here on my quest to identify and find ‘The Girl in the Picture’ . The people were so hospitable and kind . #sumatra #orangrimba #canon #canonphotography #canonuk #portrait #photography #photographer #photooftheday
Orang Rimba family , Sumatra . Canon 5D SR , 70-200mm F4 , 1.4X . Resettled and brooding resentment ; this man sat staring at the mud , juggling his mobile whilst his children scowled and shuffled in and out of their spartan shelter . He was born in an emerald forest – they were born to be bored . Why ? Watch ‘Chris Packham : In Search of the Lost Girl’ , Sunday BBC2 at 9pm . #canon #canonphotography #canonuk #canon5d #sumatra #photography #photooftheday #palmoilfree #palmoil
