Pearl Fieldlitch An Iguana on Floreana Island, 2011

Pearl Fieldlitch, b. 1935, Chelmsford, England, widowed 2009. Travelled alone to the Galapagos Islands, 2010, an ambition she had nursed since reading Darwin as a child. Animals and mammals of particular interest: frigate birds, marine iguanas, swallow-tailed gulls, sea lions, whales, marine turtles, red-footed, blue-footed and Nazca boobies, waved albatrosses, lava lizards, hood mockingbirds, swallow-tailed gulls, hawks, finches, flightless cormorants, penguins, pelicans, flamingos, green sea turtles and giant tortoises. Pearl’s late husband would have laughed at a bird called a booby. He did not like animals. He did not like to travel. He said home was better than any hotel. Once she had set off, Pearl was surprised by how much she enjoyed being alone. Pearl is a reluctant photographer – she only took the photographs because her children gave her a camera and insisted she use it.