Blinded by the Light

One of the things I love most about photography is that sometimes the hardest part isn’t finding the subject.

It’s simply seeing it.

That afternoon, I knew exactly the photograph I wanted.

The sun was low on the horizon, and there was a gull standing in the shallow water. I wanted a clean silhouette with the glowing reflection leading straight to the bird.

Simple enough…

Except there was one problem.

To create the silhouette, I had to point my camera directly into the sun.

If you’ve ever tried looking straight into a bright sun, you know what happens.

You can’t see much of anything.

I knew the bird was there.

I just couldn’t actually see it.

The glare was so bright that the gull disappeared into the light. I found myself moving the camera ever so slightly, hoping I’d catch the outline of the bird without losing the composition I had imagined.

The thoughts going through my head….

Is the horizon level?

Is the composition good?

Is the bird actually still there or did it fly away?

I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. Once I looked at the camera, I saw it.

The gull.

The reflection.

The glowing water.

The blurred outline of the pier in the background.

The exact photo I was chasing.

It’s funny how people assume photography is all about having expensive gear.

Sometimes it’s simply about trusting that the subject is exactly where you know it is…even when you can’t see it.