I had noticed the two girls earlier in the week. They were probably around 12 or 13; that in-between age when you don’t really identify as a child anymore, but you’re nowhere near adulthood either. They spent most of their time trying very hard to look grown-up, trading sandcastles for sunbathing and ditching splash fights in the surf in favor of walks along its edge. I had spent time on that same beach during those years. I recognized their self-consciousness, their watching and wondering what others thought, and the weight that comes with the expectation of growing up.
One afternoon I was sitting in the sand and watching a big flock of seagulls by the water. They stood just at its edge, all huddled together and staring out into the ocean as if they were waiting for something, presumably their dinner. After catching a shot I liked with my digital camera I decided they might look nice on film as well and so I went and grabbed my little Nikon. As I started back to where the seagulls were I could see that the two girls were walking toward the water too, a few paces ahead of me. I knew I wasn't going to get to where I wanted to make the picture before the girls, so instinctively I just set up and took a shot where I was. About the time I did the girls decided, seemingly on a complete whim, to hang a hard left and run through the birds, causing them to scatter.
It was a beautiful moment, for two reasons. One is that as a photographer you live for those out of the blue moments where you just happen to be in the right place at the right time with your gear in your hand. (Although admittedly you also always judge the images afterward: “Why couldn’t I have had my longer lens?! Or been just a little bit closer?!”)
But mostly it was beautiful because for just a split second those girls quit worrying what others might think in favor of a moment of pure fun. They forgot all about trying to be something, and just were. Anytime you see a human let go and just be it’s a thing of absolute beauty, but this one especially. It felt bigger. It felt like witnessing what might have been one of the last fleeting moments of their childhood.