Galapagos Conservation Wildlife Photography Travel & Competition

AQUA-FIRMA is proud to announce that the company will once again be sole sponsor of the Galapagos Conservation Trust Photography Competition (2020). There are six categories you can enter, ranging from Animals in Action to Landscape.

If you have already been to the Galapagos, then you might like to compare your best images with a few from the selection below. Photographs posted here cover all six categories and come from a combination of Aqua-Firma's recent trips; and some of our favourite entries and winners to previous competitions.

If you have yet to experience the islands and want to give yourself a fighting chance to win, then you can still meet the 7^th June deadline if you join our Galapagos Wildlife Cruise led by BBC TV Presenter Mike Dilger 20^th - 27^th April, 2020. His expert wildlife eye is sure to help inspire some interesting angles on life in these most famous of islands.

If 2020 is too soon for you, then other options to consider will be these hosted journeys in 2021:

    Wildlife & Marine Life of the Galapagos
     led by Galapagos National Park guides &
     Aqua-Firma director & photographer, Ralph Pannell
     7 days island-based 18^th - 24^th Aug, 2021
     (£2,390 / US$2,990)

    Shark Insights & Photography Dive Liveaboard trips
     led by Shark Scientist, Wildlife & Underwater
     photographer, Dr Simon Pierce
     30^th Aug - 6^th Sept / 6^th - 13^th Sept, 2021 (US$5,840)

The judging panel this year will include BBC Presenter Liz Bonin and series producer of BBC's Blue Planet II, Mark Brownlow.

Category 1 - Up Close & Personal

Here is a great example of this category: an American Oystercatcher with its chick - a photograph which won the 2015 competition. This photograph was taken by Luis Piovani.

Up close and personal underwater, this photos was taken by our Shark Insights & Photography Dive Liveaboard host, Dr Simon Pierce:

Category 2 - Animals in Action

This Animals in Action photograph, also taken by Dr Simon Pierce, is not comfortable to look at, but illustrates how a sub-species of Sharp-Beaked Ground Finch, found only on the remote islands of Wolf and Darwin, have adapted by feeding on the blood of mainly Nazca and Blue-footed Boobies.

Category 3 - Landscape

Keeping with the parasitic theme, here Cerro Chico, which is a parasitic cone on the Sierra Negra Volcano on Isabela Island. Trekking in this area provides access to some the most dramatic in-land scenery of the Galapagos.

Category 4 - Coastal & Marine

One of the most diverse and incredible location for coastal and marine life is in the far west of the Galapagos: Los Tuneles. Here we find dozens of tiny lava islets, mangroves and shallow lagoons. This will be one of the prime locations Ralph Pannell will be leading our August 2021 island-based Wildlife & Marine Life of the Galapagos Journey. This photograph was taken peering inside a shallow cave where juvenile White-Tip Reef Sharks like to hang out:

Category 5 - Urban Life

For Urban Life, we rather like this colourful image of a Galapagos Sealion which has taken residence on a fishing boat. This image was runner up in the 2016 competition and was taken by Meera Sulaiman.

Category 6 - Birds of Galapagos

One of the great spots for observing birdlife in the Galapagos is North Seymour Island where all of the Aqua-Firma trips mentioned in this article will visit. Frigatebirds nest all over it and here is a fledgling stretching its wings.

For further details about the competition please visit the Galapagos Conservation Trust website:

https://galapagosconservation.org.uk/get-involved/photography-competition/