The Galápagos has a rule: stay six feet from the wildlife. It exists to protect animals that evolved without natural predators and therefore have no fear of humans. What the rule does not account for is that the wildlife did not read the rule. Sea lions sleep on benches. Iguanas occupy paths. Blue-footed boobies stand directly in front of the camera and regard you with magnificent indifference. I have been photographing couples in the Galápagos long enough that I no longer try to control where the animals position themselves. I work around them.

How the Six-Foot Rule Actually Works in Practice

The rule requires that visitors maintain distance from the animals. It does not prevent animals from approaching visitors, because you cannot make that rule and enforce it on a sea lion. What this means in practice is that a couple standing on a beach in Santa Cruz may have a sea lion approach from behind and settle next to them within two feet. At this point, the couple has not violated any regulation. The sea lion has simply decided they are interesting. I position couples in locations where wildlife naturally moves through, which creates photographs where the animals appear naturally rather than as intrusive background elements. When a juvenile sea lion sits between a couple during their vow reading, that is not a problem to manage. It is the photograph.

Sea lion resting near a couple during a Galapagos elopement session with the couple maintaining their connection — A juvenile sea lion during a session on Santa Cruz. The couple was directed to stay present with each other rather than interact with the animal, which allowed the scene to develop naturally. The sea lion lost interest within four minutes and moved on.

The Species That Change Your Session

Different islands bring different wildlife into your frame. Española has the Waved Albatross during breeding season, enormous birds that walk the cliff path with the same unhurried confidence as everything else in the Galápagos. Genovesa has thousands of Red-footed Boobies in the trees you walk beneath. Fernandina has Flightless Cormorants and marine iguanas piled at the shoreline in numbers that make the ground look textured. Isabela has the largest tortoise population and the only place in the world where you can stand at the equator at the base of a volcano on the Pacific side. Each location creates photographs that are specific to that island and impossible to fake anywhere else on the planet.

Blue-footed boobies and marine iguanas near a couple during a Galapagos elopement session — The wildlife species change by island. Fernandina’s marine iguanas are so dense along the shoreline that you navigate around them on every walk. Blue-footed boobies on Española stand directly in the path with apparent ownership of the trail.

What Wildlife Adds to the Story

When couples tell me they want wildlife in their elopement photographs, I understand what they are imagining: an animal in the background, a compositional element. What they get is something less controlled and more interesting. The animals are actors in the scene, not props. They move, they look at the camera, they occasionally photobomb with such precision that you wonder if they have been doing this longer than I have. The photographs that come out of a Galápagos session are the ones where something unexpected happened because an animal decided to participate in its own way. That is the point of doing this here. The wildness is not a complication. It is the entire reason.