Winner of Wildlife Photographer of the Year announced – and it was shot on a GoPro

(Image credit: © Tony Wu / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

Beating almost 50,000 entries from 95 countries, American photographer Tim Laman has been named as Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 for his vertigo-inducing shot of a critically endangered Bornean orangutan.

© Tim Laman / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

© Tim Laman / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

While many contest-winning images are taken with high-end DSLRs, Tim captured his breathtaking shot, titled Entwined Lives, with a remotely triggered GoPro HERO4 Black action camera. 

Tim spent three days rope-climbing the 30-metre tree to position a set of GoPros that he could then trigger remotely when an orangutan made its way up the tree – they have a mental map of the likely fruiting trees, so Tim knew that after one had feasted there it would return to feed again. 

This image was taken in one of the few remaining orangutan refuges in Indonesian Borneo – Tim had long visualized the shot, looking down on the orangutan within its forest home. 

We've got a few more winning images from this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year below, and you can see all the winners from October 21 at the Natural History Museum in London. The exhibition will tour the UK and overseas later in the year.

Phil Hall

Phil Hall is an experienced writer and editor having worked on some of the largest photography magazines in the UK, and now edit the photography channel of TechRadar, the UK's biggest tech website and one of the largest in the world. He has also worked on numerous commercial projects, including working with manufacturers like Nikon and Fujifilm on bespoke printed and online camera guides, as well as writing technique blogs and copy for the John Lewis Technology guide.