Yesterday’s link to that last post in Robert Krulwich’s series on camouflage reminded me of the experience I had two weeks ago, while taking a photograph of some sea lions perched on the top of an outcrop of sun-absorbing, smooth black rock.  Those seemingly lazy creatures climb up from the waters below to recharge in the sun.

From where I was standing taking this photograph I did not notice anything other than the same kind of rocks in front of me.

Instinctively, I took a photograph of the outcropping in front of me but did not notice anything other than the contrast between the black and white.

I stood in the same spot for some minutes, mainly looking at the sea lions, but eventually looked back down in front of me and snapped another photo.