My Galapagos Adventure

Galapagos greeting

The dance of the Flightless Cormorants





A collection of Sea Lions from my trip * To see more of my Sea Lion images please visit my web-site. The link is on the right sidebar.

My favorite of the bunch.

I returned yesterday from a 2 week Galapagos photo cruise that I co-lead with Art Morris. He has been there several times and has the world’s best and most knowledgeable Galapagos tour guide named Juan Salcedo. Juan is very knowledgeable and friendly. Girls, he is also adorable. I forgot to mention he is married and they are expecting their 2nd child. The itinerary that the Beagle(our ship/home away from home) had is wonderful and carefully planned. I have never been any where like the Galapagos. The birds are insane. The variety and numbers will blow your mind. Here is a list of birds that I saw and got to photograph on this trip. I am sure that I have forgotten a few species. But you get the idea.

* Waved Albatross
* Blue-Footed Booby
* Nazca Booby
* Red-Footed Booby
* Magnificent Frigatebird
* Great Frigatebird
* Lava Gull
* Swallow-Tailed: Gull
* Brown Noddy
* Galapagos Penguin
* Storm Petrel
* Red-Billed Tropicbird
* Brown Pelican
* Audubon’s Shearwater
* Flightless Cormorant
* Galápagos Hawk
* Galápagos Dove
* Galápagos Mockingbird
* San Cristóbal Mockingbird
* Large Ground-finch
* Medium Ground-finch
* Small Ground-finch
* Cactus-finch
* Medium Tree-finch
* Small Tree-finch
* Woodpecker Finch
* Galapagos Yellow Warbler
* Galapagos Flamingoes
* Striated Heron
The group of clients included: Jim and Linda White. I met Jim at Artie’s Southwest Florida IPT in February that I co-lead. Jim is an excellent photographer and is very calm and laid back. His wife Linda is a firecracker. She is tiny and thin but she is in no way week and timid. She is a go getter and in charge of many fund-raising groups back at home in Naples Florida. The White’s friends Richard and Dot Owen joined them on the trip. They are from England and also from Naples Florida. Both Richard aka: Big Dick(I did not make that up)and Dot were a joy to have on the trip. Dot is the sweetest woman. She has a smile that is infectious. I just wanted to be around her positive energy. Her husband Richard fell on the lava rocks and got a bit ripped up. He had a nasty cut on his knee and chin but stood up and took it like a trooper. He never complained once during the entire trip. They are wonderful people and they both took some excellent images on the trip.
Suzanne Roberts from Florida was also on the cruise. I would consider her to be a semi-beginner photographer. She learned early on to be aggressive and get in there to get the shot. Patrick Sparkman and his wife Robin from Texas were a pleasure to meet. Patrick is a top notch photographer with all the right gear. One of the best. I don’t think he missed a shot during the entire trip. His wife Robin proved to be quite the photographer herself. She had many killer images and I think her eye for composition is terrific. I hope she continues with photography and I am sure some day will give her husband a run for his money. Kevin Watson from New Jersey(whoohooo!!!)is someone I could be friends with forever. He is a true birder and an excellent photographer. Kevin is quiet but friendly. I enjoyed his company very much and can honestly say that I look forward to shooting with him again. John Van De Graaff is a very nice man he has been to Galapagos I believe twice before. He gives slide shows to local camera clubs of his Galapagos images. He knows a lot about the language and the Islands. The joy on his face when he gets a great shot is priceless. I will remember it always. Michael Yessik and his wife Christine Doyle were a very nice couple. I enjoyed Michael’s kind demeanor and his soft-dry humor. Cristine is a very good birder and a really nice woman. I liked them both very much. Michael recorded a fantastic video of a shark while snorkeling. here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5wn2VHA2mg. Michael is no slacker when it comes to photography. He got “the shot” time and time again. His photoshop skills are great and he even taught me a short cut. Artie was his usual self, diligent and relentless in getting the shots. He is a true driven, passionate man(when it comes to photography). He always seems to get fantastic shots and he has a great eye for creating pleasing images. He deserves all the success he has gotten over the years. He is an inspiration to all. I think he is the greatest photographer and I consider myself lucky to have been able to shoot with him. I would like to thank him kindly for allowing me this opportunity.

Our first day was spent in Quito Ecuador at the Tandayapa Bird Lodge. Some of the group opted not to go as this was an add on to the trip. Those not going to the lodge went on a city tour. We photographed hundreds of Hummingbirds at the lodge that were coming to the many feeders and perches on the nearby trees. It was amazing to see such a large variety of Hummers and I look forward to returning to the lodge someday. Lunch was lovely.
Here are a few of my images that have been optimized. I have so many images to go through and I will be posting more from my trip everyday. Please click on the images to see a sharper, larger version.

Swallow-tailed Gulls

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Great Frigatebirds


Galapagos Pelican chick


Red-footed Booby

Blue-footed Booby

Blue-footed Booby feeding chick

Brown Noddy trying to steal fish from Pelican

Great Frigatebird chick

Magnificent Frigatebirds



Blue-footed Boobies

This Dolphin was one of many that was following the boat one day. They were very playful.

Preening Red-footed Booby

At first I shot this image concentrating on the action between the booby and the cormorant-after looking at the back of my camera I realized that the story was the entire scene with both mates.

We saw some beautiful cactus on the islands. I added my mini-world action to this one. *Check out my free mini-world tutorial at the bottom of this Galapagos blog post.

Art Morris with John Van De Graaff

Our tour guide Juan Salcedo

Red-footed Booby

Red-footed Booby chick

Nazca Booby

Swallow-tailed Gull Imm.

Swallow-tailed Gull Imm.

Waved Albatross

Waved Albatross

Swallow-tailed Gull

Hood Mockingbird fight

The victor

And the display

Small Tree Finch

Horse blur

Galapagos Sea Lion pup


Sea Lion Blur

Sleepy Baby

Our Vessel with the Fractalius Impressions filter added

And another creative version of The Beagle

These Hummingbird images were taken at the Tandayapa Lodge in Quito Ecuador
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Buff-tailed Coronet Hummingbird

Purple-throated Woodstar

Juxtaposed Sally Lightfoot Crabs, I guess Artie and I had the same thought when we saw these crabs.

Sally Lightfoot Crab blur

One of my favorite blurs from the trip

Morning colors of the red rocks reflected in the water. It reminds me of flaming feathers.
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Flamingo feeding


Fractalius filter on heron feathers

Striated Heron with a polychete

*Free mini-world Tutorial. Enjoy and be creative.

MINI WORLD TUTORIAL:
This is the basic how to-There are alot of different ways to do this but this is by far the easiest and will get you started:
IN PHOTOSHOP
START W/ A PANORAMIC IMAGE
RESIZE TO A SQUARE IMAGE (be sure to uncheck that constraint box)
ROTATE IMAGE 180 DEGREES
MAKE SURE IMAGE IS IN 8 BIT MODE
GO TO FILTER>DISTORT>POLAR CO-ORDINATES,(be sure rectangle to polar option is selected)
CLEAN-UP YOUR LINES AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO YOUR NEW SKY!!
TRY A FEW DIFFERENT ONES TILL YOU GET A KEEPER!!