Tour Guide Profile: Murray Cooper
Murray Cooper has been living in Ecuador since 1991, of which he spent the first eleven years working to conserve the Choco Rainforests. He also helped found the 21,000 acre Los Cedros Biological Reserve, which saw him living eight hours by mule in the Montane Rainforest.
Since 2002 Murray has been focusing principally on wildlife photography of the Neotropical Rainforest, for which he has become world famous. His specialties are birds and micro-photography of the Tropical Andes, and he must have one of the most in-depth collections of high-quality, wild images of neotropical birds! His special touch is that almost all his images are taken using purely natural light, without the use of flash, even in that desperate under-story light. His work is represented by Minden Pictures (the world’s premier, and very exclusive, photo-agency) and Nature Picture Library. His photos have also appeared in National Geographic Magazine and he has been published in the Natural History Magazine.
In addition, Murray has published numerous photographic articles for all of Ecuador’s major magazines and newspapers. He has also published 4 coffee-table books, of which the two most impressive have been “Undiscovered Realms of the Chocó Rainforest” and “Plumas – Birds in Ecuador”. “Plumas” was in fact the bestselling book in Ecuador in 2007, and is one of the first books of its kind on neotropical birds in their natural environment.
