Over the eons of time, the shifting currents of the Galapagos made immigration to the islands a difficult and rare occurrence. Today, visitors from all over the world splash ashore hourly. Visits to unpopulated islands such as Bartolomé Island, however, are strictly regulated by the national park service of Ecuador, which manages 97.5 percent of the Galapagos Archipelago.
Bartolomé Island is one of the few places left in the Galapagos where penguins can still be found, and we saw just one lonely looking penguin standing on the edge of the bay beneath Pinnacle Point.
These photos with figurines encountering a big, new world are humorous and lovely. How did you come to have this little people?
Hi Ryan,
When my family planned a trip to Galapagos, I knew I wanted to make some photographs that would be different from the standard (albeit amazing) pictures of wildlife that tourists return with. I’d seen a documentary called Marwencol, about a guy who creates scenes from toy figures, and that inspired me. I found some paparazzi figures to accompany the Darwin doll at my favorite Seattle toy store, Archie McPhee, and we were off. Having the figures really gave focus and another kind of life to just about every photographic situation I encountered on the trip.