Seagulls

Tuesday was a day of adventure. It started out at Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary and ended at Sandy Beach State Park. Birds from osprey to seagulls were the subjects in front of my camera and I had a blast!

Seagulls are common birds that elicit thoughts of the beach and the ocean. They are often seen by everyone visiting the beach and yet are fascinating to observe. While our daughter, Lydia, was swimming in the bay, I spent some time with gulls. They were not very happy to have me chasing them around, so I just casually moved down the beach hoping to get closer to some gulls as I went. This strategy worked much better and before long I was composing seagull photos and clicking the shutter release. This was great photography to me because the subjects were all around. All I had to do was be cautious about the backgrounds and shoot away. This is relatively easy wildlife photography!

How many of you go to the beach? How many of you have photographs of seagulls?

As the evening wore on, I found myself trying harder to get quality photos of the gulls. My wife shook her head and actually laughed at me when I got down on my stomach to take some low-level shots of two gulls. Hey, I was taught that eye-level to the subject is the goal, so I didn’t think this was so outrageous! Actually, I do prefer low-angle shots. For example, when I shoot a baseball game I almost always wear knee pads and kneel along the first-base or third-base side of the field. This low-angle perspective helps focus attention on the player, which is exactly what I want to focus on.

The gulls at Sandy Point State Park made beautiful subjects; don’t you think?