Man misses whale

Quote of the Week   —   Posted on February 10, 2015

“This is not about one guy on a boat.  It’s a commentary on society today.”

Professional photographer Eric Smith, who snapped a photo of a man staring at his cellphone, completely missing a humpback whale rising to the surface right next to him.

“I was roughly 50 feet from the whale and her calf when they resurfaced next to the sailboat,” Mr. Smith told ABC Eyewitness News. “The guy never looked up from his phone throughout the entire breach.”

Smith, who was on the whale watch in Redondo Beach, California, posted the picture to Instragram with the caption “a sign of the times.” The photo quickly went viral, with users sharing it as a reminder of how our phones can make us miss what’s happening around us.

“This is not about one guy on a boat,” Smith said to CBS Los Angeles. “It’s a commentary on society today.”

Smith acknowledged that he didn’t know what the man was looking at on his phone, and maybe it was important. But he added, “I thought it [was too bad] that he missed such a wonderful moment.”