One Trip To The Galapagos And 7,000 Photos Later, This Is What I Have To Show For It

The Galapagos Archipelago is a truly unique place. It is a chain of islands of the coast of Ecuador. They are where Darwin found the specimens that lead to his theory of evolution, and where the Grant family did their amazing biological research. Just as a quick preface I don't believe in over editing my photos. All that I have done to these is small amounts of cropping, hue + saturation work, as well as fine tuning of the exposures.

There are two things that I saw on my trip that didn't immediately come to mind when I found out was going. One of them shown in, Untitled 2, was the Galapagos Flamingo (the second was the adorable Galapagos Penguin which I didn't have the chance to photograph). The lagoon that hundreds of these birds were sitting in was nearly pitch black and provided beautiful reflections, one of which I was able to capture in this shot.

Overall the trip was an extreme success. Through work with pros my photography became significantly better and work with naturalists deepened my appreciation for the area. I would highly recomend a visit at some point in your life.

I've always thought of these guys as related even though there is no way of proving that.

I was thinking about uploading another photo of this family but stopped myself because this one told their story plenty well.

To feed they swim in the ocean to find sea grasses, but due to the high salt concentrations in their food they have to eject crystallized salt from their "nostrils", this is what makes up the white powder on this guys lips.

I had to reach my camera out over a cement wall to get this shot. The wall had to be cropped out of the bottom of the image.

To take this photo I didn't use my trusty 24-105 lens but rather some nicer glass from one of the pros.

The shot, oddly enough, showcases the unique and beautiful underside of a wolf spider along with its freshly constructed web.

It was shot during a hike through a shallow tidal river where we saw the mating displays of Friget birds and the mating sights of Blue Footed, Red Footed, and Nazca Boobies. This seal came along for the hike and kept us safe from the stingrays that swam beside us in the river.

I love how the Frigett bird pouches look. Some of them look like huge inflated hearts on the front of the birds chest. But they can lead to the death of the bird, some birds will not deflate their chests until they get a mate even if it results in their starvation. This particular male did seem to find a companion just as we were leaving this spot.

Almost anyone who has heard of the Galapagos knows about the Blue Footed boobie. They aren't born with blue feet, after a few years however the blue pigment develops from their diet in a similar process to that in flamingos

Nazca boobies are seldom known, and that may be due to the fact they aren't as visually appealing as the Blue footed and Red Footed boobies. However, these animals only live in the Archipelago and are needing to be protected. The Ecuadorian government has done a great job at it and I hope that they continue keeping it as a priority.

The albatross only land once during the entire year and you can tell. Their landings are a somersaulting mess. Their black eyes are very beautiful and I wish I had a better photo to showcase them.

The Cactus Finch is my favorite of Darwin's Finches. Studies surrounding them are the most compelling and have been the focus of numerous well known books.

This owl is a bird of prey just as it is on the main land, it mainly prays on Lava Lizards and mice. But theses things are small, only one and a half or maybe two feet tall. Once we spotted this thing though a crowd of twenty created an arc around the bird, and I was scared it would fly off. However, he took his chance to pose and show off his beautiful wings, but what was truly special was seeing it gracefully fly off and dive after prey.