Galapagos Islands
8 days cruising round the Galapagos Islands off the west coast of Ecuador with my dad. Apologies for the size of the gallery; the pictures tell the story of our trip and I just couldn't make it any smaller!
This is Lonesome George and no wonder he looks so down as his is a very sorry tale.
He is the last remaining specimen of the Pinta subspecies of giant tortoise after goats had been introduced to Pinta island and devastated the vegetation. He was rescued into captivity in 1971, and a number of attempts have been made to breed him with closely related subspecies from nearby islands, even successfully producing eggs, but unfortunately all inviable. Attempts are ongoing, but I suspect a little blue pill may be the missing ingredient since he has now topped 100 years and appears somewhat exhausted.
Without success, the Pinta tortoise will become extinct with his demise.
UPDATE: Sadly, on the 24th June 2012, Lonesome George passed away taking the Pinta tortoise into extinction.At the fish market, patiently awaiting supper.
Arctocephalus galapagoensisBrown PelicanGalapagos Fur SealPelecanus occidentalis
Dinner is served as the fish is gutted and the seal and pelicans make short work of the tidy up operation.
Arctocephalus galapagoensisBrown PelicanGalapagos Fur SealPelecanus occidentalis
The first of many landscapes by high-dynamic range. HDR is a processing technique that combines two or more exposures into a single image. The idea is to take pictures at significantly different exposure values (brightnesses) to allow detail to be retrieved from area that would normally be under- or over-exposed. The "dynamic range" refers to the distance between the lightest and darkest pixels in the image, and "high" refers to extending this range. It can be useful just to fill in detail (photorealistic), but that can leave the image feeling very flat. An alternative is as shown here to create some interesting, surreal effects.