Nicolas Helary FR

Gallery

PeruvianAmazon

Since 2017, I have spent a year in all in El Chino, the last village on the Tahuayo before the Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo reserve. These photographs follow the forest from top to bottom: the treetops, the understory, the night at ground level, then the water’s edge and the people of the village.

Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo reserve, Loreto, Peru

See the way to El Chino
  1. +30 mCanopyIn the treetops
  2. +12 mUnderstoryThe understory
  3. +1 mForest floorNight
  4. 0 mRiverAt the water’s edge
  5. 0 mVillageThe people of El Chino

+30 mCanopy

In the treetops

Thirty metres up, where the monkeys, parrots and birds of prey live.

A brown river winds through unbroken forest to the horizon.
The meanders of the Tahuayo
A rain shower falls over the forest, backlit, under a heavy sky.
Rain over the forest
Two blue-and-yellow macaws in flight, seen from below against a blue sky.
Blue-and-yellow macaws, Ara ararauna
A raptor with mottled brown plumage, perched on a branch against the sky.
Bird of prey
Two monkeys with black fur and pale faces sit side by side on a branch, looking at the camera.
Sakis in the canopy
A tiny grey monkey clinging to a moss-covered trunk.
Pygmy marmoset, Cebuella pygmaea
A black monkey with a pale face, perched high in a tree, backlit against the sky.
A puzzled saki
A black tamandua climbs along a vine, its tail wrapped around a branch.
Tamandua, the tree-dwelling anteater
A rufous raptor with a white head, beak open, perched against the dark forest.
Black-collared hawk, Busarellus nigricollis, known in Peru as “mama vieja”
A squirrel monkey with a white mask watches from a branch, backlit in the foliage.
Squirrel monkey
A cream-headed raptor tearing at its prey on a branch.
Yellow-headed caracara
A mottled grey bird standing upright on a branch, blending into the bark against a blue sky.
Potoo, motionless on its branch
A woodpecker with a crested yellow head, clinging to a pale trunk.
Cream-coloured woodpecker
A green Amazon parrot with a blue forehead and yellow cheeks, between the branches.
Blue-fronted amazon, between the branches
A trogon with a green back and orange belly, perched among thin branches.
Trogon
Portrait of a green Amazon parrot with yellow and orange cheeks.
Amazon parrot
Two night monkeys half hidden in the foliage.
Musmuquis, night monkeys, Aotus

+12 mUnderstory

The understory

Under the trees, light is scarce and everything hides.

Small bird with a bright yellow breast and a red crown, perched on a branch.
Wire-tailed manakin, Pipra filicauda
A rufous hummingbird with a long curved bill, perched on a thin branch, its tail fanned out.
Hummingbird, tail fanned
Hummingbird perched on a thin branch against blurred greenery.
Hummingbird
A giant anteater walks towards the camera between the trunks, snout lowered.
Giant anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla
A slate-grey bird with a coral-red bill, perched on a branch.
Black-fronted nunbird
A small black-and-white bird clings to its hanging nest.
At the nest
A green hummingbird perched on a bare branch, bill outstretched.
Hummingbird at rest
The head of a green snake with yellow lips emerges from the leaves.
Snake in the foliage
A bright green lizard with a very long tail, stretched out on a log.
Green lizard
A hairy bee pokes its head out of a hole in the wood.
Bee, close up
A dark millipede coiled around a stem against a blurred background.
Millipede
A giant anteater walks between the trunks, snout stretched forward.
Giant anteater, in profile

+1 mForest floor

Night

By headlamp, at ground level: frogs, snakes, spiders, insects.

Large green tree frog clinging to a trunk, in profile, against a black background.
Phyllomedusa bicolor
A pale tree frog with large copper eyes, clinging to a stem.
Tree frog, at night
Very thin snake coiled around a stem, photographed at night.
Imantodes cenchoa
Two big brown toads mating, one on top of the other, stare at the camera.
Cane toads, mating
A small spider with a spiky abdomen, hanging from its thread.
Spiny orb-weaver
A large green tree frog with a pale belly, sitting on a leaf, looks at the camera.
Phyllomedusa bicolor, head-on
A brown-blotched snake rises along a stem.
The same Imantodes cenchoa, at night
A bright green tree frog with a yellow eye, sitting on a leaf.
Green tree frog
Close-up of a brown frog, its eye streaked with golden patterns.
Frog, close up
A small orange frog sitting on a leaf, in the dark.
Small orange frog
A young smooth-fronted caiman, its mouth half open, on the dead leaves.
Young smooth-fronted caiman, Paleosuchus trigonatus
A pale green katydid with long antennae, on a leaf.
Katydid
A black centipede with orange legs crosses a leaf.
Centipede
A small katydid with very long antennae, on a twig.
Katydid, at night
A hairy tarantula with rusty highlights, on a tree trunk.
Tarantula
A whip spider with long, thin legs, pressed flat against a trunk.
Whip spider
A reddish-brown scorpion climbs down a trunk with its prey.
A scorpion and its evening prey
Dragonfly seen head-on, wings spread, against a black background.
Dragonfly, at night
Grey fungal stalks rising from a stump, an insect at their base.
Fungus on a stump
The head of a mottled brown anole, its eye bluish.
Anole, close up
The same anole, brown-banded, stretched along a stem beneath a leaf.
Asleep on its branch
Two ants carry pieces of leaf along a branch.
Leaf-cutter ants
Red ants crowd onto a stem at night.
Ants on a stem
A large reddish-brown katydid with spiny legs, on a leaf.
Spiny-legged katydid
Two green grasshoppers mating on a leaf, lit by a torch.
Two grasshoppers, mating
A damselfly with dark wings, resting at the tip of a stem.
Damselfly, at night
A black-and-orange millipede coiled in a spiral on dead leaves.
Coiled millipede
A large hairy spider on a tree trunk, lit by a torch.
Spider, at night
A striped butterfly, wings closed, hanging under a leaf.
Butterfly, at night

0 mRiver

At the water’s edge

Caimans, herons, terns, otters: life along the Tahuayo, often seen from the boat.

A caiman swims, barely visible, across rippled water.
Caiman, just below the surface
A white tern with a big yellow bill, perched on a dead branch.
Large-billed tern, Phaetusa simplex
A grey heron takes off over the bank, a fish in its bill.
13:53:53.95 · The cocoi heron and its catch
The heron flies low over the water, wings spread.
13:53:55.56 · It overtakes us
On the bank, the heron rears up in front of a raptor that has just landed.
13:54:52.74 · The raptor attacks
The heron strikes; the raptor crouches on the ground.
13:54:52.79 · The burst
The heron, wings open, faces the raptor.
13:54:54.11 · Face to face
The raptor lifts off; the heron stays at the water’s edge.
13:54:55.24 · The raptor takes off
The heron alone at the water’s edge, wings still half open.
13:54:55.92 · The heron, alone
The raptor flies along the bank, the fish in its talons.
13:55:36.45 · The fish in its talons

A scene on the Tahuayo

The heron’s fish

21 October 2024, between 1:53 and 1:55 pm, from the boat

  1. From the boat, I follow a cocoi heron that has just caught a fish. It overtakes us, the fish in its bill.

  2. A minute later, a raptor swoops down on it. I shoot in bursts: five hundredths of a second between these two frames.

  3. The heron stands its ground, wings spread. The raptor does not let go.

  4. Two seconds later, the raptor takes off. The heron stays at the water’s edge.

  5. Forty seconds later, the raptor flies past us again. The fish is in its talons.

  6. Here, no meal is ever guaranteed.

A chestnut jacana with a red wattle walks through the grass.
Wattled jacana, Jacana jacana
A black cormorant clings to a slanting vine.
Cormorant on a vine
A lizard speckled yellow and black, resting on a log at the water’s edge.
Lizard at the water’s edge
An otter raises its head from the dark water, mouth open.
Otter in the Tahuayo
Close-up of a young caiman’s head, its eye golden.
Caiman, close up

0 mVillage

The people of El Chino

The village, the children, and the people who taught me how to look at the forest.

The village from above: stilt houses around a large field, on the edge of a lagoon.
The village by the water
A young girl smiles, crouching in a dugout canoe, holding a basin of fish.
Back from fishing
Three boys laugh as they look into the camera.
In the village
A brother and his sister laugh as they pose for the camera.
A brother and his sister
Two children leaning on a wooden railing, a green parrot between them.
In the village, with the family parrot
A little girl sitting on a wooden staircase painted blue.
On the blue stairs
Two photographers watch the bank from a boat at dusk.
Watching from the boat
A girl sits at the bow of a canoe while a man untangles the net behind her.
Back from fishing, with the day’s catch
Two people in a dugout canoe paddle upriver, backlit.
Paddling
A guide in a red jacket, backpack on, rests a hand on a trunk.
Guide in the forest
At night, a man lit by his headlamp holds two young caimans in his hands.
Young caimans, at night
Five men in a motorboat run along the wooded bank.
On the Tahuayo
In the forest, Ezekiel points up at the canopy; beside him, a photographer looks for what he has spotted.
Ezekiel’s eagle eyes
A photographer in the undergrowth aims up at the canopy.
Shooting in the forest
Two photographers with long lenses look up at the treetops.
A man walks along a grassy trail between the trees.
Follow the guide!
In the forest, a man with a backpack points at something in the trees.
Looking for the best vantage point in the dense forest
Three men take a break on a log in the middle of the forest, with their camera gear.
A break in the forest