The lone seagull

I just returned from a week on the East Coast. I spent several days with my boyfriend in Maine where we drove from Boston up the coast to visit friends, see the leaves change in New England, and otherwise spend some quiet time together.

And I was, of course, capturing as much of our time and space on film as I could.

But try as I might I could not get the perfect shot of a seagull. This was my one best shot. The rest are close ups of gulls who would not fly, far away shots of gulls that are blurry, and far away shots of geese who were flying in formation. But I couldn't capture the whole flock in time, so their formation looks a bit off.

I heard myself call out several times, "Stop, bird, stop!" Rick even laughed at me for it. But I wanted that one perfect shot, the one where the bird is close up, and you can see the feathers on the wings. There is action. I was shooting them in Ogunquit, I was shooting them in Camden, I was shooting them whereever I could spot them quick enough. But they're not cooperative birds. They fly on their schedule not mine. I waited several minutes once for one of those birds to take flight. He was perched not three feet from my legs, but he wouldn't budge. Not even when I walked right past him. He would not budge. He wasn't ready. "Go, bird, go," I told this one. But nothing. "Fly. Please." Nope. Not a movement on his feathers.

So, I wound up with this shot. It has action. You can see it's bird. But you can't really tell it's a gull.

It's not bad. You can see the sky was gray and dark. It was a stormy day, really, not monsoon stormy like here in Arizona, but misty, sometimes cloudy, and slightly cool.

But I got my gull.

He's in the air, wings outstretched, and he's just a tad bit too far away. But the photo's clear enough.

Taking these shots involved an act of patience. I didn't have my 35mm camera with me, the one that I can point and shoot several shots in a second. I had a simple digital camera, nothing too expensive, nothing impressive. But it did it's job. It helped me get a shot of a seagull in flight.

It's a good example of not getting exactly what you want but being able to be content for what's available.

I'm happy with this shot. I'm happy I was photographing birds. I'm glad I was able to spend time with the one I love.

Patience is a good thing. It's a virtue that can really come in handy during troublesome times. The next time you happen to be in the presence of a seagull, maybe you'll think of that.