About the Talamanca Open Photography Project (TOPP), free jungle pictures, rainforest pictures

Cariblue Hotel has recently started a new project called Free Jungle Pictures, the Talamanca Open Photography Project. We believe in rainforest conservation through nature photography, and have started this project to help local nature photographers to sell their work online.

Our Vision: to see bands of drunken poachers tromping through the jungle at night with lots of high tech lighting equipment and digital cameras, instead of with dogs and guns the way they do now.

Maybe this won't be so easy. But what we can do is apply pressure to the local economy in the direction of wilderness conservation. Cariblue is already doing this through our commitment to ecotourism, and now we are using nature photography for this purpose as well.

Courtesy: free Jungle Pictures, the TOPP

Courtesy: free Jungle Pictures, the TOPP

Currently the project is in the early stages, but we already have some great pictures of local wildlife, including the famous poison dart frog. We are currently working with local nature photographers to build our database of jungle pictures. Soon we should have some really incredible professional poison dart frog pictures, as well as pictures of tropical flowers. There are also organizations in the region dedicated to butterflies and dolphins, from which we may be able to obtain some pictures.

Our business model is to give away free low and medium resolution jungle pictures, distributing them under a free licence which allows people to use them however they want. We also sell high resolution digital originals of the pictures, for professional graphic design and publishing purposes. We hope to become a great resource of information about local ecological issues as well.

The ecological situation in the Talamanca region of Costa Rica is very interesting. Much of the rainforest is protected by law, but it is still being destroyed by small time illegal poachers and loggers. There just isn't enough manpower to patrol the whole jungle. Therefore, we intend to demonstrate to the locat people that, by taking pictures of the jungle, you can make money off the rainforest without destroying it.

If you are interested in being involved in this project in any way, please visit our other site, the TOPP, free jungle pictures, rainforest pictures. We have some really nice pictures of local animals, plants, and trees, including some amazing poison dart frog pictures. We also have a selection of jungle posters, including bird posters which may be of interest to some of our viewers coming from the Cariblue bird list.

Save the Rainforests!