The governor and his family were easy to spot on the shimmering Jersey Shore, amid 10 miles of a state beach closed by a budget standoff, even from 1,000 feet above.

Andy Mills, a 6-foot-3-inch photographer for The Star-Ledger, dangled out of a Cessna 152 two-seater and aimed his long lens at what looked like just dots on the sand. Following a hunch that with an empty Sunday morning schedule, Gov. Chris Christie might be indulging in some private holiday weekend sun on a beach he had ordered closed as part of a government shutdown, Mr. Mills fired away.

The hunch paid off.

“As we came back up, I’m looking, I’m like, ‘That’s him,’ there’s no doubt in my mind that’s him,” Mr. Mills said. He peered through his 400-millimeter lens and saw Mr. Christie looking right back at him. “When you make eye contact with someone, both you know and he knows what’s going on.”

The national spotlight on the images from the beach brought new attention to the political stalemate in Trenton, the state capital, where an impasse between Mr. Christie and some Democratic lawmakers over a new budget was the reason state parks and beaches, along with many other government services, were closed in the first place.