Swirling

While on the Oregon Coast last month, one of my self-assignments was to photograph moving water with slow shutter speeds. I love the effect this creates - smooth silky water. I love the sense of motion within the image especially when photographed against solid objects. And what better place to play with water & slow shutter speed than the Oregon Coast.

We were down in the Newport area and decided to stop by Seal Rocks State Park. There are some lovely rock formations in the bay - sandstone, so they have worn away into some magnificent shapes. While most of my group focused in on the waves against the rocks, I went another direction. I began exploring the upper beach taking simple images of sandstone and pebbles until I reached the south end of the beach and smiled with delight. There in the sand, was a row of sandstone exposed by the waves. The stone had been smoothed by waves over the years: dips, crest, crevasses - perfect for parting & catching waves and foam then slowly releasing them back to the ocean.

I set up my tripod, first trying to get a good wide angle with the beach & bluff behind. But the day was a normal northwest kind of a day with heavy flat overcast skies that became unattractive in the scene. So I moved closer, composing on the rocks with the surrounding beach. But this still didn't seem to depict the motion I wanted - too much was distracting from the scene.

Finally, I stood on top of the rocks, hoping my boots would keep out the water, and focused more closely with an interestingly shaped rock in the foreground and composing with another along the line to draw the eye into the scene. All I had to do after that, was wait. And my patience was rewarded with a nice low wave coming up over the rock then down the other side. My shutter speed of 5 seconds was long enough in the low light to catch what I had hoped for - an interesting rock with silky foam & water cascading off & swirling around.