The highlight of any trip to the Galapagos Islands is swimming with the sea lions. This guy was one of about four or five of them that played with us for about half an hour off the shores of Isabela island. I’ve been wanting to get my camera under water for a long time and the sea lions and Pacific green sea turtles were the perfect subjects to practice on. Like the marine iguana that I posted yesterday, there are many more of these guys to come.
Just back from Ecuador tonight and in the process of downloading all the new photos. Many to go through, but to get started, here’s a marine iguana from the island of Fernandina. I’d say that based on the amount of photos I took, the marine iguanas were my favorite subject, and Fernandina was my favorite island. Many more of these guys to come. All in all it was a great trip in both the Galapagos Islands and in the cloud forest on the mainland. I’ve avoided the Galapagos Islands in the past because of my apprehension about the group nature of such a trip, the regimented scheduling of island visits and lack of independence. All these things proved to be true, but we worked around the limitations and managed to really enjoy ourselves. Now time for some much needed sleep.
This will be my last post for a couple of weeks as we fly to Quito and then on to the Galapagos Islands tomorrow. We’ll also be making a stop on the way back in the cloud forest of Ecuador. I haven’t photographed one of my favorite subjects in a while — frogs — and am looking forward to searching for some new species when I get there. This photo of a green and black poison dart frog was taken in Costa Rica back in 2007.
Another abstract shot of nature today. I panned the camera vertically to achieve the blur effect on this one of fall colors at their peak in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio.
This polar bear was just kind of hanging out, checking out his territory, watching the day go by. As with all my polar bear shots, this was taken way up in northern Manitoba, Canada at a place called Seal River.
Seemed appropriate for today. The top photo of the donkeys, or wild burros, was taken in Moreno Valley, California. The elephant was in Lewa, Kenya.
First off, sorry for no posts last week. We just got our power back yesterday after Sandy dumped five feet of water into the lobby of our apartment building. It’s good to be back online. For today, just a simple portrait of a black-backed jackal. I was on the ground for this one, shooting at eye level, when the curious jackal approached to within twelve or so feet. The shallow depth of field and backlit lighting provided by the setting sun created a nice soft feel to the image.
This male lion had a belly full of oryx when he arrived at the water hole to quench his thirst. The light was pretty nice that morning and the water hole was so still, providing a mirror-like reflection.
The cedar waxwing is one of those birds that for whatever reason, has eluded me up to this point. While visiting the Cuyahoga National Park last weekend, however, I saw a whole flock of them. This guy grabbed a few quick berries before flying away. Note the red and yellow markings on the bird’s tail feathers.
This newborn topi was all awkward enthusiasm as it romped through its new home in the Masai Mara of Kenya. Topis are a very common sight in the Masai Mara in November and it seemed as if every mother was with a calf.