Photography Seminar  (Meeting Location: Exhibit Hall - Celebration Hall at St. Anastasia, 5205 A1A South)
 
WEDNESDAY 3:30 - 5:00 P.M., Difficulty Level: All Levels, Max No People: 100
 
Once the islands were a way station for whalers and pirates.  Then the Galápagos Islands, an archipelago 600 miles west of the coast of Ecuador, found a new identity  when a young British man, Charles Darwin, arrived during the voyage of the HMS Beagle in September 1835.  Darwin spent several weeks exploring four of the main islands and his observations were pivotal to his eventual realization that organisms change with time, that they evolve.  Today the Galápagos finches remain a clear and unambiguous example of the reality and ongoing nature of evolution by natural selection. 
​
The Galápagos are ecologically unique.  Formed from the plate tectonics of the Pacific Ocean floor, the archipelago has never been connected with mainland South America.  Yet it has been repeatedly colonized by a remarkable assemblage of animals and plants that, once present, each followed their own evolutionary trajectories.  Visitors to the Galápagos thus enjoy remarkable and close up experiences among such creatures as giant tortoises, marine and land iguanas, the world’s most northern species of penguin, the world’s only flightless cormorant, and an array of others including sea lions, flamingos, sea turtles, exotic fish, and myriads of seabirds such as boobies, storm-petrels, frigatebirds, and the remarkable swallow-tailed gull.  High levels of endemism among animals and plants are seen throughout the archipelago, the most important factor in making these islands deserving of the term unique as well as continued strong  conservation efforts. 
 
Kevin Loughlin takes pleasure in the opportunity to discuss photographing the fauna and flora of the Galápagos Islands as well as delving into the remarkable natural history of the islands. He will share some of his adventures as well as discuss his new book Galápagos: A Natural History.