There was no opportunity for a second attempt.
There was only the ocean, a passing wave, a group of dolphins and a photographer who reacted quickly enough.
Why Dolphins Ride Waves
Although seeing twelve dolphins arranged so dramatically in one wave is unusual, dolphins themselves are well known for interacting with waves.
Scientific observations have documented dolphins surfing many different kinds of moving water.
A NOAA technical report examining dolphin behavior notes that wild dolphins have been observed surfing breaking waves near beaches, ocean swells and wind-generated waves. They can also ride pressure waves created by large whales and the bow waves produced by vessels.
In other words, what looks like "surfing" to a human observer is not an invented description with no basis in animal behavior. Dolphins really do take advantage of moving water.
Exactly why an individual dolphin rides a particular wave can depend on the circumstances, and it would be difficult to establish the motivation of Blacklow's dolphins from a photograph alone. It is therefore safer not to claim that the twelve animals were consciously competing, performing for people or posing for a camera.
What can be said is that wave-riding behavior in dolphins is well documented.
Dolphins are also highly social mammals.
According to NOAA Fisheries, bottlenose dolphins can travel individually or in groups, and their groups can repeatedly separate and reform. Their social behavior includes play, physical contact, breeding and other interactions. Dolphins can also cooperate when feeding, including working together to concentrate schools of fish.
Australia's Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water similarly describes many small toothed cetaceans as social animals. It notes that bottlenose dolphins may form groups of roughly five to fifteen animals, although larger aggregations can occur in open water.
That broader scientific context makes the Manly photograph fascinating for another reason.
Twelve animals moving together is not itself impossible or biologically mysterious. What was extraordinary was the visual moment: so many dolphins happened to become clearly visible in the same wave at essentially the same time, while a photographer happened to have her camera pointed toward them.
Dolphins Are Built for an Ocean Life
Part of the beauty of the photograph comes from how effortless the dolphins appear in an environment that is powerful and unpredictable to humans.
For a surfer, a breaking wave requires balance, timing and experience.
For dolphins, water is home.
Dolphins are mammals rather than fish. They are warm-blooded, breathe air through lungs, give birth to live young and nurse their offspring. Because they need air, they regularly return to the surface to breathe through the blowhole on top of the head.
Their streamlined bodies are extraordinarily well adapted to moving through water.
And their lives are deeply social.
NOAA Fisheries explains that dolphins and porpoises use sophisticated communication and echolocation, producing sounds including whistles, clicks, squeaks and buzzes. Echolocation allows toothed cetaceans to gather information about their underwater surroundings.
Australia's federal environment department explains that cetaceans can use reflected sound to gain information about underwater obstacles, water depth, shorelines and other animals. During closer investigation or hunting, rapid clicks can provide extremely detailed information about their surroundings.
Humans standing on a beach see only brief glimpses of this world.
A dorsal fin appears.
A dolphin surfaces for air.
Perhaps one jumps.
Then the animal disappears beneath the water again.
Blacklow's photograph briefly revealed much more.
Instead of one animal breaking the surface, an entire group became visible through the same moving wall of water.
For a fraction of a second, a hidden social world was displayed in front of the camera.
The Importance of Timing in Wildlife Photography
Photographs like Blacklow's can give the impression that extraordinary wildlife encounters are easy to capture.
Usually, the opposite is true.
Wildlife photographers may spend hours watching an area and return home with nothing remarkable. Light changes. Animals move unpredictably. Weather shifts. A subject may appear in the wrong place or disappear just before the shutter is pressed.
There is also a difference between seeing something extraordinary and successfully photographing it.
A person standing beside Blacklow might have witnessed exactly the same dolphins and remembered the experience for years.
But producing a sharp photograph of that moment required another sequence of events.
She had to notice the movement.
She had to recognize what was happening.