In November, 1995, my wife and I went to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador for
11 days. Since my main interest is nature photography, this article is written
primarily for serious photographers.
The Galapagos Islands are a group of volcanic islands right on the Equator in
the Pacific, about 600 miles (1100 kilometers) from mainland Ecuador in South
America. Since the islands have never been part of any continent, animals there
are primarily marine mammals, birds, reptiles ... whose ancestors somehow
migrated onto those islands over the centuries. Of course, there are a lot of
marine life in the ocean for underwater photography.
Because of
the lack of predators, the animals on these islands are extremely tame and have
no fear of human, thus creating a unique environment for photography. Just
imagine yourself standing three feet away from a bird which sits still to post
for you. Meanwhile, you find your 80-200mm zoom a bit too long even on the short
end, as you need to back up a couple of steps to include the entire bird in the
frame.
Typically, one visits the Galapagos Islands in a small cruise ship with 10 to
20 passengers. The passengers go ashore to visit the islands in the morning and
then again in the afternoon, with a snorkeling session in between. At night, the
ship sails to another island to save time. At each landing site, the passengers
get into small motor boats from the main ship, go on shore and hike around for 2,
3 hours, frequently on uneven lava rocks. The hiking is not difficult, but after
doing so day after day for a week or two, one gets tired.
Camera Equipment:
Keep in
mind that the Galapagos is a group of remote islands where supply is extremely
limited, so bring everything one needs plus some backups. I brought three camera
bodies with lots of batteries to the trip. Since one can frequently get very
close to the animals, my main lens was a 80-200mm zoom hand held. A tripod is
good for stability, but some animals such as land iguanas, crabs, warblers ...
tend to move around a lot; in those cases a tripod isn't practical. Therefore, if
one wants to bring a tripod, I recommand a light-weight one suitable for hiking
with a quick release.
My long lens was a 300mm/f4 for birds that were farther away. A 1.4x
teleconvertor would have been nice, but I didn't have one at the time. I used the
300mm lens on a monopod, which doubled as a walking stick for my wife. I heard
that some people bring 600mm/f4 type lenses and hike around with them all week.
If one is strong enough to carry them, great, but I can't. Moreover, there were
only a couple of occasions that I wish I had a super-telephoto lens with me. I
cannot justify carrying that kind of weight day after day for just a few shots. A
wide angle is also useful for the occasional landscape shots.
One thing to keep in mind is that it is prohibited to use flashes on the
animals, as it tends to bother them. Usually the tour guides enforce that rule.
Fill flash on plants and group pictures are allowed, though. Since there are
plenty of opportunities for snorkeling, there are also plenty of opportunities
for under-water photography for those who are interested.
Light, Film and Exposure:
Since the Galapagos Islands are right on the Equator, there is plenty of
sunlight year around. Therefore, medium to slow-speed film is adequate. During my
trip (November, 1995), my main film was the Fujichrome Sensia (ISO 100) with some
Velvia (ISO 50), whose color is a bit too brilliant for my taste. Do bring some
faster film (ISO 200, 400) though. For example, if one visits the highlands on
Santa Cruz Island, it tends to be cloudy or foggy in high altitude. Fast film
will come in handy under that situation.
During my trip, on the average, I used about 5, 6 rolls of 36-exposure film
per day, sometimes more. For the 11-day trip, I used about 40 rolls of Sensia, 10
rolls of Velvia, and a few rolls of Kodachrome 200. Serious photographers should
bring plenty of film with them.
A less
favorable consequence for being on the Equator is that sun rise and sun set tend
to be quick, and thre is only an hour or so of really good light for photography
early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Fortunately for me, our tour
group got up early every morning, had breakfast at 6am and went ashore by 6:30am.
In some cases, we even hiked first and had breakfast afterwards to catch the best
light. Of course, it also means that this wasn't at all a relaxing vacation.
Since the Galapagos are volcanic islands, frequently there are dark lava rocks
in the background of pictures. In some cases, the lava patters themselves could
be the subject of artistic compositions. The problem with dark lava rocks is that
light meters tend to turn them into medium grey, thus over-exposing the rest of
the picture. Usually under-exposing by 1/2 to 2/3 stop would solve the problem.
Sometimes I bracket my exposure just to be sure. That is yet another reason to
bring more film. Moreover, there tends to be a lot sun glare off the lava rocks.
A polarizer is very useful for controlling the amount of glare one wants in a
picture.
When to Go:
Being right
on the Equator, it is warm in the Galapagos year around. July through November is
the coolest and driest season to visit, but we also found the November sea water
a bit cold for snorkeling. A wet suit would be very helpful. It is warmer in the
other months and the "rainy season" is from January through March. Fortunately,
as far as I know, those are more like short showers which won't ruin a trip.
Overall, the seasonal differences are small, hence there is really no "wrong"
time to visit the Galapagos,
Tour Companies:
Our trip was organized by a company called
Galapagos Travel
[phone: (800) 969-9014] in California. Their trips are more like general-purpose
trips suitable for all travelers who are willing to work hard during vacation,
but they do get up early to catch the best light in the morning. Many other tour
companies organize trips to the Galapagos Islands tailored to nature
photographers. These trips tend to stay on the islands during the best light and
spend more time when there are interesting subjects to photograph. For example, a
friend of mine is very happy with his Galapagos photo trip with John and Barbara
Gerlach, organized by
Voyagers
International [phone: (800) 633-0299]. Many other tour companies run this
type of trips and they usually advertise in magazines such as "Outdoor
Photographer" and "Nature Photographer."
Additional Information:
Barry Boyce, the owner of Galapagos Travel, has written an excellent book
called "A Traveler's Guide to the Galapagos Islands" (ISBN 1-55650-850-6). He
explains the differences among trips organized by many tour companies (with
minimal bias towards his own company) and information about various cruise ships
in the Galapagos. This book also provides detailed descriptions of each island
and what is expected to be seen at each landing site.
If one wants to learn more about the natural history of the Galapagos, I find
the book named "The Galapagos Islands" (ISBN 962-217-580-5) by Pierre Constant
very informative. Constant is a naturalist and lived in the Galapagos for two
years.
Disclaimer: Other than being a customer, I have no relationship with the above
tour companies or publications. Your experience with them may vary.
Additional Images:
Additional images from my 1995 Galapagos trip are available on Duane
Galensky's
Wild Light web page.
[
View/Add
Comments]
