Intimate portrait

The orangutans in Borneo are curious and often come surprisingly close to humans. On one of the trails that was actually an elevated boardwalk above the muddy jungle floor, a mother orang was relaxing as her very young baby was climbing on her, exploring his world, and watching photographers point big lenses at him. I got down as low as I could to capture this intimate, eye-level portrait. It was surprising to see how calm the mother was as we photographed her baby. My settings were 1/160, f/7.1, and the ISO was high at 1000 because of the thick cloud cover that threatened rain. Even though the light level was low, the diffused light was far superior to a bright sun in terms of producing strong images. I darkened the boards on which the baby was resting so this didn't look like a captive shot. With wildlife, any man-made element in the shot usually detracts and degrades the image.