Travel photography, discussion and inspiration

Mamum has consistently filled our Flickr group with brilliant photography - the sort of images which are original, creative and yes, frankly inspiring. But take it from me - very few, if any, can be recreated by pointing your camera phone at a similar scene. Tried it. Failed.

Back from a recent trip to the Galapagos, Mamum has chosen as his conversation piece a wonderful image of time stood still. You can see more spectacular shots by checking out his Flickr stream here.

If you're new to our weekly photography knees up come on in and join. Our Flickr group is Been there photos where you can share your shots and get inspired by some of the great talent.

Or if you've got an image you'd like to share and discuss but aren't on Flickr (and why not?) - pop it over in an email: been.there.photos@guardian.co.uk

And if you fancy seeing other images in the Flickr Friday series you can do so by clicking here.





Who doesn't love to travel? It was back in 2005 when I travelled the world, and since then I've been fortunate to be able to travel and photograph the countries and places dear to me.

But there was one category of photography which I had not actually ventured into, and that was wildlife photography.

That all changed when I decided to send myself to the Galapagos Islands for my 30th, and quite literally throw myself deep into wildlife photography.

I guessed if there's one place on this planet to photograph wildlife, then the place where Charles Darwin studied the wildlife and thus helped his theory on evolution is a pretty good place to be to do it.

This shot was taken on my first day on arriving on the Galapagos (Santa Cruz Island). It was too easy to just point and shoot, but for some reason I wanted to capture the female tortoise looking at me, so I waited a few minutes until she slowly lifted her head, turned to the left and looked as if she smiled at me.

I knew then that I'd captured something which would speak volumes.

For the composition, I didn't really want to capture her whole. I wanted to have her face in the center of the image and also capture some of the light reflecting of her, also to give an indication of her size by deliberately stopping shy of photographing the top rim of her shell.

It was not till I got back and processed the photograph that you see, that, to me has a timeless feel to it. The texture and wrinkles of her skin, it's captured a life that has lived for over a hundred years, a life that she's lead peacefully without any notion of what has happened around her, but they way she's looking, almost at you, gives a sense of hope in metaphorical way.

We all as humans lead busy hectic lives, yet in this photo I've captured a life that has been gentle, slow and timeless in essence.

For the shot, I used my Canon 5Dmk2 with a Canon F 70-200mm (F2.8 L IS I USM), at a focal length of 153mm, and the she was roughly 3 meters away from where I was kneeling to take the shot, and it was a sunny day.

I shoot exclusively on digital having switched from film 12 years ago and haven't looked back since.

I've got many more great photos from the Galapagos, but its this one I keep coming back to, to remind me of what an amazing place the Galapagos Islands are, and that I've been there, photographed it and have amazing memories to last forever.

I hope to carry on with my travel photography for many years to come.



If you've got an image you'd like to share and discuss or you'd like to chat about Mamum's photo, drop us an email: been.there.photos@guardian.co.uk