‘I was walking with friends in the Presidio along Mason street near the Sports basement across from the Crissy field marsh [in 2022] when I stumbled upon this scene.’
The SF Bay Area’s very geography lends itself to breathtaking bouts of photography, whether they’re encountered at sea level or some 3,000 feet above Ocean Beach. When cloaked in the morning fog, San Francisco is such a magnetic, awe-inspiring sight to behold.
What could make this enveloping magic even more sensational? Throw in some very cute, very still birds just living their best O Magazine lives atop a body of water in the Presidio — backdropped by the early-day sun kissing said morning haze.
“I was walking with friends in the Presidio along Mason street near the Sports basement across from the Crissy field marsh [in 2022] when I stumbled upon this scene,” environmentalist and sitting board member for Justice Outside Guillermo Rodriguez told me last year after I stumbled upon one of his jaw-dropping pictures on The Bird App… before M*sk took ownership of the social media company. “I noticed the birds first and they looked like a crew team sculling in the marsh.”
Taken with just his iPhone, refracted silhouettes of the waterbirds ebbs in mesmerizing harmony with the reflection of nearby cypress trees mirroring off the water. Rodriguez noted that the “calm and still” morning appeared to soothe the feathered beings; the only noise he heard while snapping the picture was that of a foghorn sounding way off in the distance.
But for now, we’ll try to channel the cool-calm vibes those birds were welcoming when this Smithsonian-worthy picture was taken.
