A feather, a racing Tufted Puffin and exploding sea foam far below — sometimes the background makes the photograph.
This Tufted Puffin was racing up the cliffs of Saint Paul Island, Alaska, with a large feather and bits of vegetation in its bill.
We were positioned on top of the cliff during my Saint Paul Island Workshop, and its nest was somewhere below us. The bird appeared below and came powering almost directly toward us.
The nesting material immediately made it more interesting than just another puffin in flight, but it was the background that really caught my attention.
Far below, waves were exploding against the rocks. As the puffin climbed the cliff, the out-of-focus sea foam created that wonderful soft wash of grey and white behind it.
For a moment, everything lined up.
Look Beyond the Bird
When photographing birds in flight, it's easy to become so concentrated on acquiring and tracking the bird that you stop seeing everything around it.
The background matters.
On Saint Paul Island, being on top of the cliffs with the Bering Sea far below can produce some incredible backgrounds. The water is constantly changing — dark water, white foam, breaking waves, rocks, sunlight and shadow.
The trick is noticing those backgrounds and being ready when a bird flies through the right one.
This puffin didn't give me much time. It appeared below carrying a feather and nesting material and raced up the cliff almost directly toward me.
That's why I so often say:
Be ready for the extraordinary while photographing the ordinary.
You might photograph dozens of puffins flying past, and then one appears with something special in its bill and crosses the best background of the day.
You simply have to be ready.
Time to Look, See and Learn
That's one of the great things about spending enough time with a subject.
You begin to recognize flight paths, notice where the backgrounds work and anticipate where something interesting might happen.
It's not simply about photographing another Tufted Puffin.
It's having time to look, see and learn.
Sometimes the reward is a puffin, a feather and an exploding wave far below.
Photograph Tufted Puffins on Saint Paul Island
Join me on Saint Paul Island in Alaska's Pribilof Islands, where we'll spend seven full days photographing Tufted and Horned Puffins, auklets, murres, kittiwakes, Northern Fulmars, Red-faced Cormorants and much more.
July 1–8, 2027 | Saint Paul Island, Alaska
Seven full days of bird photography on one of North America's most extraordinary seabird islands.