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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Eighty-three: Impressions of the Galapagos – an extended photo-essay > At cliff's edge: Swallow-tailed gull and Galapagos Sea Lion, South Plaza Island, The Galapagos, Ecuador, 2012
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21-JUN-2012

At cliff's edge: Swallow-tailed gull and Galapagos Sea Lion, South Plaza Island, The Galapagos, Ecuador, 2012

I photographed this Swallow-tailed gull flying only inches above the head of a resting Galapagos Sea Lion at the very edge of South Plaza Island's towering cliff. I deliberately placed the bird at the very top of the frame, to increase the tension present in the tight spacing between the gull and sea lion. I fill the bulk of the frame with the rocky surface of the cliff-top, which leads the eye directly to the pair at the precipice. Both the gull and the sea lion look towards the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean -- we can only see them from behind, and are left to wonder what each may be thinking at this moment in time.

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Phil Douglis26-Jul-2012 20:21
Yes, it's a nice blend of curving wings and curving head. Obviously, I never originally intended matching curves such as this. I just wanted to relate one of the flying gulls to this resting sea lion, and I shot many different gulls passing above. This one flew the closest, and I was able to catch the instant when it flew over the head of the sea lion. The interplay you mention was a gift. Some might say it was a "lucky" shot, but as nature photographers, we work hard to make such images like this happen.

The late baseball general manager Branch Rickey, the man who hired Jackie Robinson, and broke baseball's color barrier, is credited with coining the phrase "luck is the residue of design." What Rickey meant is what is happening here. I designed a scenario and took many photos of passing gulls to make that scenario come to life.
Tim May26-Jul-2012 17:27
I like the interplay of the wings of the gull and the head of the sea lion.
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