The Ocean is the best place to shoot Seagulls.    NOT.

Many years ago, I learned a lesson about photography that has stayed with me ever since.Sometimes the best place to capture a subject is the last place you would ever think to look.

Back then, a photographer could actually make a respectable living selling stock images. Better yet, it was an excellent side hustle for someone already working professionally behind the camera. Even after long assignments, I still loved shooting simply for the joy of it.

Today, anyone can download thousands of seagull photos online for free within seconds. But at that time, quality stock photography still had real value, and there was demand for authentic, well-composed images.

One day, a request went out for stock shots of seagulls in flight.

So I grabbed my camera gear and headed straight for the coast. Any excuse to visit Santa Cruz was a good excuse in my book. I had always loved the place. It felt less like work and more like a mini vacation with a camera. I was absolutely certain I would come home with great shots of seagulls soaring dramatically over one of California’s most iconic beaches.

I spent hours wandering the shoreline, trying to “become one with the birds,” as photographers like to romantically imagine. I soaked in the ocean breeze, listened to the waves, and enjoyed long walks in the sunshine while convincing myself that artistic inspiration was somehow part of the process.

Meanwhile, the seagulls completely ignored my plans. Those birds were either incredibly intelligent or deeply suspicious of photographers. Probably both. No matter what I tried, they refused to cooperate. They wouldn’t fly where I wanted, when I wanted, or at the angle I needed. Every frame was wrong.

I ran toward them.

I tossed food into the air.

I waved my arms like a lunatic.

At one point, I may have yelled at a bird in frustration.

Nothing worked.

After hours of failure, exhaustion finally won. Defeated, I headed toward the boardwalk to salvage the day with a hot dog.    I mean, who doesn’t enjoy a hot dog at the boardwalk?

As I wandered near the rides, casually taking a few final photos, a homeless man pushing a shopping cart approached me.

“You’ve been trying to photograph those seagulls all day,” he said.

I laughed and admitted defeat.

“If you really want the best seagull shots,” he told me, “you need to go to the dump.”

I walked away thinking, Sure, homeless guy. Maybe you and the birds have some special arrangement out there, but I’m not that desperate.    Or was I?

As it happened, I knew of a landfill not too far from home. And after the day I had just endured, I figured I had absolutely nothing to lose.

So I went.

And I’ll be damned—the man was right.

There were more seagulls at the dump than I had ever seen at the beach. Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. And unlike the cautious birds along the shoreline, these birds had absolutely no fear of humans. They flew low, close, and constantly. Perfect for photography.

That was where I learned the real trick.    Bring a tarp.    Lay flat on the ground.    Toss tiny bits of food into the air.    And use a standard lens instead of a telephoto.

At the beach, I had been forced to shoot from far away with a long lens, which created all kinds of technical problems, soft focus, atmospheric distortion, and difficult tracking. But at the dump? The birds came so close I could count their feathers.

The shots turned out fantastic.

Ironically, some of the best “ocean bird” photographs I ever captured were taken nowhere near the ocean at all.

So if you ever want incredible photographs of seagulls, skip the beach.    Go to the dump.

It come highly recommended by a homeless man in Santa Cruz.

Just remember to bring a tarp… and some bread.