I wonder exactly when the “Photo Bomb” came to be the Photo Bomb.

It is a fairly “new” term in the English Language, finally having a place in the Dictionary.

It goes mostly like this: v. to spoil a photograph of (a person or thing) by unexpectedly appearing in the camera’s field of view as the picture is taken, typically as a prank or practical joke.

It is popular catch-phrase now.

Yet…. it has been happening since the beginning of photography. And you know how it goes. Someone is getting ready to take the shot, and BLAM! Out of nowhere, someone steps into the “field of view.”

Like the first time Ansel Adams was in Yosemite. He had worked all day with his full frame camera, placing it exactly right on top of his station-wagon-like-automobile. He turned it ever so little… so that the view of El Capitan was just right. He waited and waited for the light to be perfect….. And as I mentioned earlier. BLAM. Out of nowhere. Ernie Mitterburg walks right in front of Ansel’s lens. At THAT moment when the shutter was released. Photo Bomb.

I think it has happened to anyone who has ever take a photograph.

So today, I am at the beach. A beautiful day, I might add. I had taken a few shots of the water birds, and beach and such. And then I saw the beautiful sight… the colors coming together with the tides. The beach meets ocean… an nothing else.  I had the coastline directly in my view finder.

Suddenly… out of nowhere… one of those birds Photo Bombed me.  It seemed to be laughing.

It is a good thing they didn’t bomb me with something else. But none the less.

Most people don’t seemed too bothered by it. I think more often than not, folks think it is funny.

But there is no such thing as a “Paint Bomb” or a “Drawing Bomb”

You know, if someone had walked in front of Leonardo as he painted the Mona Lisa… I am pretty sure he just waited…. so as not to paint them in the scene.  And there you have it.

Photobombing didn’t really have any earlier roots than its beginnings with the instantaneous response of the photograph.  Snap the shutter.  Except the PB.

But I’ll keep bravely shooting forward.  And hope that the birds find someone they like just as well…. to pull  out the  old Photo Bomb…. whenever they think it is funny.