As our cruise ship entered the harbor at Callao, Peru, I noticed great swarms of seabirds flying back and forth. Using a telephoto converter lens on my digital camera, I made a number of test pictures of birds in flight, but they said nothing about where we were. I then framed this harbor scene – featuring two small fishing boats in the foreground, a long stone breakwater in the middle, and a large freighter and a cluster of fishing boats on top. I waited until a mass of birds flew into this frame and I juxtaposed them against the harbor scene. Varying in size and wing position, they blanket the frame, yet magically leave space for the boats to float through them. It is an incongruous photograph – and one that almost offers us the sound of flapping wings and shrill cries.