Photographer Erik Morgenstern took this photograph on September 5 while walking across a pedestrian bridge over Sammamish Slough in Bothell, Washington. He often brings his camera along to get out of the house and stay active, and that day he was looking for wildlife. The smooth surface of the water and a lone rowing shell did not initially strike him as unusual. But at home, he noticed a pattern in the tree’s reflection that resembled a bird with a tear. The bird’s beak is formed by the boat itself.
A critic noted that the image is especially striking because of its unusual diagonal perspective: the boat seems to cut through the tree’s reflection, guiding the viewer’s eye across the entire frame. At the same time, the photograph is a reminder that each viewer experiences art differently—one person may see simply a rower on the water, while another notices the image of a bird in the ripples. Morgenstern used a Canon 70D camera with a 55–250 mm lens. The photograph was published as part of The Seattle Times’ feature that accepts reader-submitted photographs from across the U.S. Northwest.
Based on: Sammamish Slough reflects patterns, shapes and imagination