Have you ever heard that old joke "what's the most important quality a comedian"..."timing"..."can have?"...I thought of it this week when I captured this image...
I was strolling down the length of the Coupeville pier...having just savored my last Americano at Local Grown...the coffeehouse at the Port of Coupeville...where William makes the best coffee in town...and also where you will find the most spectacular view...
I was admiring Coupeville's main street and skyline...its many historic buildings that line the shore...and I was feeling wistful...longing to reunite with my husband, and simultaneously regretful about leaving this place...
That's the moment I looked down to the small, sandy beach area...and saw a surprisingly large flock of seagulls...sitting in wait...beaks aligned...pointing in the direction of the fog-banked pier and surrounding cove...so many of them that the sand was almost indistinguishable in the sea of gray and white...
The second I felt for my good camera, I realized I had left it in the car...and so I took the shot with the only camera I had with me...the one on my iPhone...and now you will see why it's my camera of last resort...not because it takes bad photos...but because there are limited circumstances under which it takes great photos...and this wasn't one of them...
The surroundings were perfect...the viewpoint was perfect...the composition was perfect...even the timing was perfect...and the equipment?...not so much...
Still, I will remember the moment the gulls took flight...the bustling sounds of a cooperative adventure forming...the fury of their wings to get aloft...the harmony and unity in flight...the reflection of the flock in the moving water below...the reminder that I create the magic of any moment by my viewpoint alone...
Seagulls take flight over Penn Cove...