Perfect timing 📸
In 2018, Paula Northway Poland was on a trip with some friends when one of them took a snapshot of her feeding seagulls casually. They had no clue, however, that the photo would end up becoming the ultimate animal photobomb.
When the group of friends decided to take a walk on the beach, they had flown to Texas to escape the bitter Utah winter. Poland told The Dodo, “This was our first day at the beach, and my pals remained on the shoreline while I walked to the ocean to feed bread to the seagulls so I’d be away from humans.”
Christine Mather-Poole had pointed her phone camera towards the single moment, and Poland had no idea. “Christine took this shot, and it wasn’t until later that we realized there had been a great photobomb,” Poland explained.
A bird took off in flight at the exact instant the camera was snapped, creating a horrifying perspective trick. Later that night, the pals looked over the photos and spotted a prehistoric-sized bird looming above Poland.
While the result appeared to be Photoshopped, the optical illusion was generated by forced perspective.
They realized it was a once-in-a-lifetime shot when they compared it to the other seagull images they’d taken that day.
“Christine had no idea he’d flown into the scene.” “At the moment, she didn’t notice,” Poland explained. “It was just a stroke of luck.”
Poland had the photograph of the colossal bird printed and framed, and it now displays in her living room as proof that everything is bigger in Texas.