The story behind the photograph of one of the last tigers in Malaysia ...
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00:00It took us five months to get that images and eight camera traps in the field.
00:04Such an image could be one of the last tigers of Malaysia, or it could also be the generation
00:10of hope, because there is a lot of conservation work being done right now to save that species.
00:14Emmanuel Rondeau managed to photograph one of the last wild tigers in Malaysia.
00:19In the 1950s, no fewer than 3,000 tigers roamed the peninsula.
00:23By 2010, there were 500.
00:25Today, only 150 remain.
00:28For Brut, Rondeau recounts how he captured this rare image.
00:32So making an image like this requires months and months of preparation.
00:35There is first a scientific work that has to be done.
00:38I work with scientists in Malaysia from the WWF Malaysia office and the indigenous people
00:44of Malaysia that know that forest by heart, saying, is that even possible?
00:48Where are the tigers?
00:49And so we've identified one of the last strongholds of the Malayan tiger in the north of the country
00:55in Beilum State Park.
00:56Getting there was actually very complex.
00:58We're talking about 150 kilogram of equipment to bring in this super dense rainforest.
01:04So tigers in Malaysia are very, very rare.
01:07So I will never be able to make an image just by walking around in the forest with my camera.
01:11So I had to come up with another solution.
01:13And this solution was camera trap.
01:15So camera trap are just basically a photo studio that are installed in the wild.
01:20So it's professional cameras with some external flashes that are installed on the trees.
01:24The only difference is that I'm not going to be the one taking the picture.
01:27The picture is going to be triggered by the animal itself, the tiger, when he's going
01:31to cross an infrared beam.
01:33And then when everything is installed, I need to test it.
01:36So I need, what I say, someone to be the tiger for me.
01:39So I'm asking someone to walk in front of the camera so that he can trigger everything
01:43so that I can make sure that the framing, the light, everything is ready and perfect
01:48for the tiger.
01:49A project like this involves so much work and you have no idea if this is going to work.
01:54When you open the camera and you look into the image, usually you have a lot of different
01:57images of other species, or it can be leaves, things.
02:01Look in the camera and suddenly I see the stripes of the tiger and I cannot believe
02:05it.
02:06Suddenly you have no breath.
02:07Everything disappear around you and then you turn around and you tell the others.
02:11And it's a, it's an incredible moment.
02:13You know, everybody was so, so, so happy.
02:16Also because we have the image, it's a success, but also because we're going to be able
02:19to share this story, the story of the Malayan tiger with the world.
02:24What I like about those images, what I have in mind is to make those environmental portraits.
02:29It's like the tiger, of course, is important, but the forest in the background is for me
02:33as important as the subject itself.
02:35A lot of the work is about finding those right places, a place that gives justice to that
02:40beautiful forest.
02:41The main reason why the Malayan tiger is in trouble is mostly snare.
02:45We've seen a snare crisis during the recent years, meaning there's been a lot of snares
02:50installed in the forest that's going to not only kill the tiger themselves, but kill all
02:55the preys.
02:56And when there is no prey, then of course the tiger, they cannot live anymore.
02:59They don't make cubs anymore.
03:01And so you have the population going down and down and down.
03:04So making this image was very important because it could be the last opportunity for us to
03:10make such an image.
03:11If you stop someone on the streets anywhere in the world and you ask him, what is your
03:15favorite animal?
03:16You'll see the majority of the people telling you tigers.
03:19They are one of the most impressive, majestic representations of the wild in our planet.
03:25If we cannot save what we love the most, then nothing's going to work.
03:30Then we're not going to be able to save anything else.