Lesser Antillean Iguana on St Eustasius in the Dutch Antilles.
$200 unframed on Epson Premium Semi-Gloss or Gloas paper using Epson Ultrachrome K3 inks.
Meet a critically endangered Iguana, found on only a few Caribbean Islands, this one on St Eustatius (Statia) in the Dutch Antilles. Only a few hundred survive on the island, and they are difficult to locate and even more difficult to photograph, as they live in trees and move slowly and quietly. So I was particularly fortunate after a few days to find this maturing juvenile at close quarters and in a good position.
This image has been donated to STANAPA, the National Park on the island, who didn’t have a photo of the Iguana they could display. A copy was also donated to Waimari Primary School. This image has been accepted in four international exhibitions in 2011 and is published in NZ Camera 2012 due out in February.
The key points for the sharpness of this photo are focus, good light and use of a polarising filter to eliminate any specular highlights. It was handheld at 1/160th of a second with image stabilisation at 190mm focal length, but I braced myself to help steady the shot.
