Local photographer captures man's close encounter with whale

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. (WPVI) -- A local photographer captured the moment where a boater missed a humpback whale surfacing just feet away because he was busy looking at his cell phone.

Montgomery County native Eric Smith reached out to 6abc anchor Matt O'Donnell after sharing the photo on Instagram.

Smith says he was trying to get a good picture of the whale and was originally mad that the boat sailed in and "ruined" his shot.

He was about 50 feet away when he captured the moment, and the man on the sailboat in the picture missed the whole thing.

Smith took about five photos of whales with the private sailboat in the background, but the man never got off his phone in any of the pictures.

"We're all guilty of being buried in our phones, even me," Smith said. "You think life is better on your phone, but we're missing what's happening around us."

He calls the picture "a pretty good piece of social commentary."

ABC News contributed to this report.