Galapagos, part two
Last week I posted pictures from our 2005 trip to the Galapagos, highlighting the fact that in the past 20 years I’ve learned a lot about what makes a good photograph. I’m going to finish that thought this week, partly because I have some photos I want to share and partly because I need an easy post this week since I was out of town most of the past seven days.
Another single-subject center-shot photo, but it works ok because of the sand color, the contrast, and the red tints shared by the sand, the eye, and the beak.
Center-shot again. I think it works just because of the subject and because of the beaks pointing in the same direction. I don’t know if it would have been better if the adult were facing the camera, but I actually like the adult being focused on the chick while the chick checks us out. Note that blue feet must be an adult thing — I’m sure the guide pointed this out but I’ve forgotten.
Yeah single-subject again, but I think that stare makes it work.
I could clearly have done more with this. Get the booby fully within my shadow, for example. Get the second booby out of the picture entirely. There are two reasons I shot it like this. One, I knew a lot less about photography 20 years ago. Two, I had been standing in the same spot for ten or fifteen minutes photographing these two. Initially they were pretty far off and it seemed they were having a conversation about where to build a nest. They proceeded to meander a winding path all the way to, basically, my feet. It is absolutely true that most Galapagos wildlife sees humans as irrelevant.
Unrequited love
I don’t know how I managed to mess up the exposure so badly. I probably thought I had less time than I really did. Anyhow, it’s a pretty grand mating display.
The dejected, deflated look of rejection.