Seeing the Unexpected

I needed to go backpacking and had looked at a trip offered by the mountaineers but it was full with a wait list. The trip, Cape Alava, a favorite early season hike of mine, but I hadn't been on the trail for years. Then a few days before the group left, a spot opened up. I quickly grabbed the spot and was so happy to be getting out on a great weekend. Only one problem surfaced as I was heading to meet my carpool - I forgot my tent. UGH! It wouldn't be the 1st time I slept out under the stars on the beach but as the group pooled our equipment, we were able to come up with a plan that had me sleeping in a tent & not under the stars. Although the stars would be nice.

We started out in cloudy and a little drizzly weather, but we entered the old trees of the forest quickly and were protected from most of the wet. I do like hiking with groups especially when we can chat throughout the hike which makes the miles slip away. In no time we were hearing the waves along the beach and looked through the trees with anticipation. We set up camp in the trees and sat back to watch the tide recede to expose the rocks & tide pools.

Cape Alava is an interesting area of the coast. It's lined by rocks farther out from the beach, protecting the beach and the tide pools from crashing waves. When the tide is out, rocks and great varieties of seaweed are exposed. I can only imagine the forest of seaweed when the tide comes in. An underwater oasis for small fish and sea creatures. This area also lends itself nicely for calm reflections of the off shore sea stacks. But it wasn't reflections I was looking for as I meandered down the beach with my camera - I was looking for that sunset light and color.

And as it often happens along the coast, a bank of clouds rested upon the horizon obscuring the last light of the day. I continued to shoot even without the amazing colors. I have had sunset shoot like this before, no color, no drama yet came out with images I loved. Besides I wasn't ready to go back to camp even with the scent of campfire drifting down the beach.

I wandered out to a little spit of sand quickly being devoured by the incoming tide and saw what I had not seen before. Pastel colors reflected in the still water, a mirror image of the sea stack, the ripples of sand under the water. I was able to get off a couple of quick shot before the tide took over my viewpoint. What I came away with will again be one of my favorite images although not exactly what I was looking for.

Kissed by the Setting Sun

When heading out on a photo trip, I will sometimes set myself an assignment - work on macros, play w/ depth of field - whatever might work for the destination. If I'm heading to a mountain meadow, I might play with macros for the wildflowers or I might play with depth of field highlighting one flower with soft focus all around, or sharp focus for the whole scene. For a recent trip to the Oregon Coast, I set myself an assignment of playing with shutter speed and the waves. I love the look of smooth waves that you get when you have a slow shutter speed and the Oregon coast is perfect for that. I will share some of my images from that self-assignment in another post. What can also happen while I'm out shooting is that I'll give myself another assignment - one I hadn't thought of previously. This second assignment was capturing sun stars.

Another photographer in the group was working on capturing sun stars which gave me an idea. While waiting for the ideal light just after the sun sets, why not see if I could create sun stars? I had already positioned my camera well before the sun came close to the rocks, but as I watched its progression along the sky I began to get more excited. Will the sun really "touch" top of the sea stack? Could I really be that fortuitous? I waited, I'd like to say patiently but I wasn't. I watched the sun's progress, the waves swirl around rocks below, a sea lion's head popped out of the water, a seagull flew between the sea stacks. Then finally! The moment I had hoped for - the sun began to slide behind the top of the sea stack. I had already set up my camera for the shot.

I knew from lectures and articles that sun stars are created when you stop down your aperture as far as you can. The star is made from the high amount of light -it leaks through the leaves of the aperture itself. The farther your aperture is stopped down the more intense the sun star. So I closed my lens down to f/32 and set my shutter speed to compensate. I metered off the clouds as they were the closest to middle grey in the scene.

I ended up adjusting my exposure slightly as the sun went down, but the end result was something I had hoped for and luckily got.

Beachy Keen

Shi Shi Beach, 9/19/09-9/20/09, 8 miles, 50 elevation

Remoteness. Very few beaches in America offer this kind of remoteness. Yet even on a beautiful summer day Shi Shi Beach can be extremely crowded. Wait until after Labor Day when the crowds lessen and the sun highlights the sea stacks with a beautiful light.

I took a group of photographers out to the south end of the beach called Point of Arches at the end of September. I wanted to be there when the sun would pass through a certain arch. I had yet to capture this magical moment, so wanted another try. I began to worry as we drove out that we may not see the sun at all. But the clouds started to break up as we hiked the short trail out to the beach. The sun warmed our faces during our beach walk - the trail drops us off at the north end of the beach and it's another 2 miles to Point of Arches. We passed a few other campsites along the way. Point of Arches was empty - perfect.

Once we set up camp, we all separated to explore the beach, sea stacks and tide pools. We shared ideas and pointed out great photo ops finally pulling ourselves away from our activity once the sun was down & we were ready for dinner. A campfire was built and we sat around sharing stories & laughter. Interspersed with our stories moments of silence as we stopped to gaze at the stars above us, jewels in the night sky. A few campfires along the beach seemed to reflect the show in the sky.

The next morning, the air gleamed fresh. We quickly ate breakfast before grabbing our cameras to take advantage of the marvelous morning light. It was a chore to tear ourselves away to break camp and get to the north end of the beach before we lost the light. We made it though and got a few more pictures before heading back home.

Storm Chasers

Rialto Beach 10/17/07

The forecast said winds, high winds, would be whipping through our area bringing with it the media hype only an early winter storm can bring. Ready for a little wind and wave action, Michael & I played hooky from work to head to the beach for the afternoon . . . the day BEFORE the storm was to hit. Poor timing wasn't all too bad for us.

After driving through the pouring rain around the north end of the peninsula, we made the decision to head to Rialto Beach near forks. The sea stacks there might lend themselves to some interesting pictures, if the weather held out. By the time we made it to Forks, the rain had lessened and was now coming in short showers between sun breaks.

The beach proved to be wonderful, with waves crashing on the shore - not as strongly as they would the following day - and blue sky overhead. Dark heavy clouds grew to the north of us and to the south. Waves blew sea foam into the tumble of driftwood as we made our way through the logs trying to avoid the waves and foam and the occasional squall. Looking back toward the east, a rainbow arched across the Quilleutte River. Clouds stretched from the storm clouds over the waves and sea stacks, across the blue sky.

We stayed until the sun set first turning the air golden then back to normal, as it lowered behind the clouds building on the horizon. Harbingers of the storm to come?