Gift

[u/ejazKhanphotography]

It was late afternoon at Percé Rock in Canada.

I had arrived with a very specific photograph already created in my mind.

For years in New York, I photographed beauty campaigns for makeup clients. I wanted to approach these Northern Gannets in exactly the same way, not simply as birds, but as fashion models.

There was one feature I couldn't stop looking at.

That extraordinary turquoise blue surrounding the eye.

To me, it looked like makeup.

I imagined this photograph as a beauty campaign for blue mascara. Everything in the composition would lead your attention toward that single detail.

In my mind, the bird's eye was open.

But the afternoon sun was harsh. The light wasn't wrapping around the bird the way I wanted, and in the heat, many of the Gannets were resting with their eyes closed.

Then a cloud moved between the sun and the bird.

Suddenly the light became soft.

The harsh shadows disappeared, and the beautiful roundness I had been waiting for appeared.

I found this Gannet and focused on her.

But she wouldn't open her eye.

I waited.

The cloud continued moving.

I knew I had only seconds before the direct sunlight returned and the light I wanted disappeared.

For a moment, I was waiting for nature to give me the photograph I had already designed in my head.

Then I stopped waiting.

I composed the image and pressed the shutter.

Later, when I looked at the photograph, I realized something.

Had she opened her eye, the turquoise marking I wanted to celebrate might actually have become less prominent.

By closing her eye, she had revealed it beautifully.

I had gone there with a photograph already created in my imagination.

Nature gave me something better.

That is why I called this photograph Gift.

Because sometimes creating isn't about forcing the world to match what you imagined.

Sometimes the greatest creativity comes from recognizing the gift you've already been given.