A little photo-bombing at the San Diego Zoo.

Me at the Asian Elephant display at the San Diego Zoo.  Notice anything?

He's not too hard to see, if you look.  The boy is hiding behind the baby Asian elephant.  At first, I thought he was playing with a toy truck, but closer inspection shows that it's a water bottle he is holding.  I am not sure what he was doing, but his parents were several feet away and distracted by whatever was in the adjacent paddock.

Photo bombing, also known as the art of showing up in a photo you have no business being in, is often an unrecognized skill held by those of us who have no or little social awareness.  You know the type, walking about without a clue regarding the environment, stumbling into situations they just shouldn't be in.  Often, those situations involve a photo being taken.

I, in my socially awkward stage, have unintentionally popped into gatherings and disrupted the proceedings a few times.  Although I would say that I am beyond such things now, my wife would be only too happy to point out that I am not yet out of my socially awkward stage.  But there is hope for me, or so she thinks.

I actually have a photo without the boy in it, but there is something special about this particular occurrence.  First of all, there is the surprise of him being there and the novelty of the photo bomb.  The best part of it, though, is that he has got a water bottle but seems to be using it like a toy truck.  It's hard to say without having a video, but it makes the conjecture interesting.  Besides, it also means looking less at me, and I have never been a great subject for photographers.  This is why I like being on the other end of the camera.  That is, unless I am photo bombing someone.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com