Back From the Galapagos Islands.
Photography, Travel September 27th, 2009
We’re back from our 11 day trip to Ecuador (Quito, the capital city, and the Galapagos islands). The most difficult part of preparing for the trip was deciding what photographic equipment to take with me. The Girl insisted that we carry my 180mm macro lens, which I never ended up using.
What I did end up using was my brother’s Crumpler Whickey and Cox camera/laptop backpack, his 70-200mm f/4, my 17-40mm f/4 and 24-105mm f/4, 1 light stand, 1 shoot through umbrella, 1 580EX II flash, my SD500 compact with underwater case, and of course the 5D II. Add in assorted gels, filters, blower brush, lens pen, and wireless triggers, and there was barely enough room for clothes.
Luckily for us we didn’t need a lot of fancy clothes.
We toured the islands as part of a GAP Adventures group. There were 15 of us tourists in the group and GAP gave us duffel bags to repack our suitcase contents into. This made for much easier travel between islands.
The trip was an extremely active adventure full of hiking, biking, and snorkelling. The weather cooperated, the animals posed for photo ops, and our assorted bangs, bruises, and electrocutions were minor issues compared to our rewards for enduring them.
Not only did we luck out with all of that, but our group leaders were absolutely fantastic.
I’m slowly posting pictures of the trip to flickr. The lack of high-speed at home means that it’ll take at least a couple of weeks for all of them to get there, but as you’ll be able to understand once you see some of the shots, I’m glad that I carted all of that camera equipment around with me.
The islands truly do live up to their nickname, “The Enchanted Islands”. Their enchantments will remain with me for as long as I live and I’m pleased to see that the Ecuadorian government is taking extreme measures to preserve the biologic uniqueness of which the islands boast.
At some point in the near future, I’m sure we will all be able to look at the stewardship of these islands as an example of how we should all live and interact with the world about us.
September 28th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Great photos. You must be glad to put a priority on the camera equipment instead of your clothes.
Rudy´s last blog ..In Control
September 29th, 2009 at 7:58 am
I was lucky that I only had to choose which T-shirts to take. I doubt we’ll ever be going back to the Galapagos Islands, so it was important to try to capture the images as best I could. In fact, one of the reasons that I bought the camera was in anticipation of this trip.
September 29th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Definitely seems like the trip of a lifetime. Color me jealous. LOVE all the photos. Not a trip where you wanted to skimp on the photo equipment.
What’s next for the adventure travelers? Antarctica on an ice breaker next year? Or polar bears? (Trying to live vicariously through you for the next few years. LOL)
haleyhughes´s last blog ..Introducing Xander
September 29th, 2009 at 1:21 pm