Celebrate the state's birds, wildlife and natural lands at Florida Birding & Nature Festival

Celebrated wildlife photographer Tim Laman, who has snapped photos for 24 National Geographic articles so far, is set to give a talk and conduct photography workshops when the Florida Birding & Nature Festival returns to Hillsborough County Oct. 17th through Oct. 20th.

The festival, which coincides with the peak fall bird migration, will feature field trips, boat excursions, seminars and a free nature expo, according to a press release. It is based in Apollo Beach at Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Suncoast Youth Conservation Center, 6650 Dickman Road. David Sibley, author and illustrator of “The Sibley Guide to Birds,’’ will be the keynote speaker on Friday, Oct. 18.

Laman, an ornithologist who earned a Ph.D. from Harvard, spends several months a year on assignment in remote parts of the world, capturing birds and other wildlife in stunning photographs. He says he was interested in both photography and biology when he was growing up.

Photos by Tim LamanScarlet ibises flying past the moon, Orinoco River delta, Venezuela.“I bought my first camera in high school. I studied biology all through school,’’ he says. “So I’m a biologist professionally, I guess you could say. I pursued my studies all the way through getting a Ph.D. doing research in rainforest ecology, especially with a lot of emphasis on birds but also plants and birds in the rainforest and their role in seed dispersal of important fruit trees.’’

He first came in contact with the venerable nature magazine when he received a research grant from the National Geographic Society to pay expenses for his Ph.D. work. He pitched an article featuring his nature photos and was able to meet with the photo editor, who encouraged his work.

“She said if I was going back to Borneo she would give me free film, which to a graduate student was a big thing,’’ he recalls. “A few years later I was able to actually turn my research project in the rainforest canopy and the wildlife there into my first National Geographic article.’’

Over the years he’s photographed birds of paradise, orangutans and other wildlife forTim LamanTim Laman National Geographic, and as a cinematographer has made films for the National Geographic Channel, BBC and Netflix. He’s now making conservation films for Cornell University, which is known for its research on birds.

During his talk on Oct. 19, he’ll show a number of his wildlife photographs and tell about his experiences in far-flung spots of the world. On Friday, he will conduct two seminars for people who want to improve their skills photographing wildlife. He says he will talk about go-to camera settings when he’s on an excursion and doesn’t know what to expect; how to get good exposure under different light conditions; and tips on focusing when taking pictures of birds in flight.

“It’s tricky, it’s kind of a fun challenge but it has a lot of components to it,’’ he says. “It has the physical hand-eye coordination of getting the bird in the frame, and there are certain tricks about how to handle your camera, how to hold your camera, how to quickly find the bird and get it in the frame.’’

For more information, go to Florida Birding & Nature Festival and Tim Laman