Those Oregon sunsets
A trio of stunning sunset shots from one of my favorite places in the world - the Oregon coast. Have a look and enjoy!
Sunsets along the Oregon coastline are beautiful.
I absolutely love Oregon, and was lucky enough to spend a chunk of last summer up there, enjoying the beauty and escaping the stifling heat and humidity of Austin. Knowing that I would be there a while, I had hoped I could capture at least a few gorgeous sunsets.
Thankfully, Mother Nature saw to it, and I got more than my fair share of them. I came home with something like 9,000 photos from that trip, and am still going through them all. But I did finally get into my Lightroom library recently and processed a few from a couple of different sunsets there. I'm dying to process more, after doing these. So much beauty!
These were all captured in Cannon Beach, Oregon, which is a beautiful little town sitting on perhaps the most scenic beach anywhere. I'm a huge fan of rocky beaches (I'm not a tropical-beach kind of guy) and it's hard to compete with Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach. That thing is a BEAST!
Thanks for stopping by today!
The last sunset in Oregon
This was one of those nights that you never forget. It was our last night in Oregon on our big summer trip, and we thought it would be awesome to watch one more sunset over the Pacific. Little did we know it would turn out like this!
This one REALLY turned out amazing!
I will always look back fondly on this past summer. What, you didn't read about it yet? Suffice it to say that it was a pretty fabulous summer for this family. We're still talking about it, and probably will be for some time (like forever!).
Since we were in Oregon for a long time, and it's just so beautiful there, I spent a fair amount of time catching shots of various sunsets. Some were so-so, some were good, and some were spectacular. This one was quite possibly the best one, and it came on our last night there. Maybe Mother Nature heard my prayers. :-)
We had decided to make a return visit to Ecola State Park and just hang out, relax, and watch the sun dip into the Pacific one last time before we packed it up and left town. There had been some clouds that day and of course I am ever hopeful that they will still be around at sunset, and that it will translate into something beautiful.
It did.
As the pictures show, it was incredibly colorful and while they weren't the most dramatic cloud formations I've shot at sunset, it certainly was pretty incredible. When you add in the rugged beauty of the Oregon coastline, it's hard to beat. You can see why I love this part of the country so much. It just speaks to me I guess.
Here's a tip for when you visit Ecola State Park:
Everyone rolls into the park, leaves the car in the big parking lot there, and follows the trail straight to the viewing platform that is in front of you. You should absolutely do that. The view from that platform is excellent and leads your eye straight down the coast to Cannon Beach and it's famous monolith, Haystack Rock.
But when you are done there, head back up to the parking lot and then turn towards the Pacific and walk into the bushes there. There are some tiny trails that will lead down to a hidden beach. This will involve some scrambling on your part and possibly sliding on your butt down onto the beach, but believe me it is well worth it.
I made this same trek and saw 4 people the whole time. Just four. I basically had it to myself! I was also there at low tide, and was able to walk around the rocks and end up on the beach below the viewing platform I mentioned above. There was no one on that beach at all. There were tidepools with starfish and crabs in it. There were empty sea caves. I was in heaven!
And yes there is another, longer way to get there. You can also take a trail towards Crescent Beach which will wind you through the woods for a ways before depositing you on the beach below the viewing platform. From there you can walk just about anywhere.
However you choose to get there, just get there. Most tourists don't know about it or are not willing to put in the effort, so show up for sunset and be prepared for some awesomeness!
A stunning sunset in Cannon Beach
Sunsets are heard to beat in Oregon! I saw so many beautiful ones that I feel like this could become an Oregon sunset blog! LOL Hope you enjoy this collection of pics!
I caught a lot of fabulous sunsets in Oregon!
As I mentioned in the last post, I am back from the summer trip and getting back into the groove around here. Lots to do, and it's all good. The first thing I am trying to accomplish is to process a lot of photos, because I love to do so. It's a lot of fun.
So today I have a collection of pics from Cannon Beach, Oregon that I took during a beautiful sunset there one evening. We arrived pre-sunset and ate some pizza on the beach while exploring the nooks and crannies (and tide pools) around all the big rocks there. It was quite fun.
Once sunset started, I could see it was going to be pretty well worth sticking around, so we did. I had just the camera and one lens on me - the tripod was back home that night. So I darted here and there while the light morphed and got more and more awesome. All the while I was doing my best to steady myself so I could get a clean shot, since I didn't have the tripod to depend on.
The tide was receding and it left behind all sorts of shallow pools, which are great for capturing reflections. You can't get a reflection off of moving water (obviously), so when it puddles up like this, it's show time! Get out there and go crazy! (And I did!)
Thanks for swinging by today!
Sunset at Hug Point
I love Oregon - there is just so much beauty there. It's almost hard to digest it all. It seems at every turn, there is something else more beautiful than what you just saw. I spent some time there recently, and one evening a beach walk turned into a full-on sunset adventure. Here are 15 photos that show you just how beautiful that evening really was!
I caught a pretty excellent sunset recently in Oregon!
Man, I love Oregon. It's gorgeous. Have you been? If not, you should plan to go, unless you hate Nature or have a thing against amazing coastlines and fabulous light. Then I guess stay home, but otherwise get yourself out to Oregon STAT. What a place!
As I wrote here before, I have been on a Western-US road trip with the family for a while now. We left Austin back in late June, and about the time this post goes live on Monday, Aug 17 (I wrote this about 10 days ago and scheduled the post to go live today, since I knew I would be on the road), we will be back in Texas and getting close to home. It's been an amazing 7 weeks on the road. We've all enjoyed ourselves immensely.
And I hope to write up a full summary of the trip later to share here. In the meantime, on to that sunset I was referring to above...
Hug Point is a small state park on the Oregon coast just south of Cannon Beach. At first glance, it looks like a lot of the other coastal parks there - a beach and a few sea stacks in the surf. But if you explore a little around the northern end (and the tide is low enough), you can actually walk onto a completely separate section of beach where you will find some sea caves and a little waterfall coming out of the woods and down onto the beach.
It's pretty stellar, and well worth a visit.
We spent a few weeks in the area, so I visited Hug Point on several occasions. I had been once before and loved it, so when we planned this trip I made a point to get here a few times in hopes of capturing a nice sunset.
I got one.
The funny thing was that we were just out walking along the beach, hanging with the dog and just relaxing, and all I had was just the camera and a single lens (no tripod, no other equipment with me). It was one of those times that you just can't tell what's going to happen with the light, so you pack light and hope it works out.
I figured it was going to just stay overcast, but then the sun really started to make itself known, and there I was, smiling and firing away handheld. Thankfully it all worked out. While I prefer to have the steadiness of a tripod, I'm not above just taking the shots when the scene presents itself. Heck, it will never be the same again, right?
Well that's it for today friends - thanks for visiting and if you get a chance to go to Oregon - GO!
Golden hour at Haystack Rock
I caught an incredible golden hour recently at Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach, Oregon. It was one of those times when everything just worked out perfectly. Here are 10 photos that prove it!
There's just something about Haystack Rock!
I love coastal Oregon, and while I often aim to discover new places, there are some that are so awe-inspiring that it's hard not to return. Haystack Rock is just such a place. This massive monolith sits on the beach in the little town of Cannon Beach, Oregon and it draws quite a crowd, especially in summer.
We recently spent several weeks in the area, and I made it a point to get here a few times and grab some shots. My hope of course is always to get a nice golden hour, sunset, or blue hour (or ideally, all three) but you can never really predict these things. You can hope, and based on what you see in the sky you can certainly get your hopes up, but you can never accurately guess whether it will turn out nice or not.
So one afternoon we headed over there hoping for great light. There had been some decent clouds all day, and I had my fingers crossed. As you can see, when golden hour arrived, it really started to come together.
I was getting pretty excited and ran around firing all sorts of shots from various angles. It was also close to low tide, which in my opinion is the best time to shoot on the Oregon beaches, because of all the rock there. The receding tide leaves behind all sorts of little pools, which you can use in your photographs to draw the eye.
So that's exactly what I did with some of today's shots. These long sections of water were lined up just about perfectly, and I fired away with them in the foreground as a leading line. The funny thing to me is that I was the only one really doing that. I just assume everyone would shoot this way, but it was just me - which was totally fine by me of course! I would rather have it all to myself anyways. Nearly all the other photographers were clustered either down close to the rock itself, or on the other side of the rock (further south down the beach - I shot from there for sunset, and it's a very popular spot).
I hope you enjoy this collection of photos from that day. And yes, I stuck around for both sunset and blue hour, and OMG it was marvelous. I just need to work on those pics and get them ready, so that will be another time.
Thanks for stopping by today!
Sunset at Arch Cape
Sometimes I get lucky and catch an incredible sunset, and sometimes I don't. Either way, I am happy because I am pointing my camera at one, and that's a good thing. Today you get a group of photos taken during a couple of different sunsets in Arch Cape, OR earlier this year. It's just beautiful, so take a look, k?
The Oregon coastline is just so beautiful.
I love Oregon. I freaking LOVE it. Every single bit of it that I have seen is just gorgeous. Maybe I have been lucky and missed the bad parts, but I don't think so. There is just so much natural beauty there. It's addictive, really. I envy the folks who live there. They have such ready access to massive amounts of nature's awesomeness. Lucky dogs.
This was sunset our first night in Arch Cape - pretty amazing!
Here I took the previous photo and converted it to a painting using Topaz Simplify - and love the results.
I have been there several times over the years, and we are planning a return visit again next summer as a family. I am really looking forward to that. There should be a bit of photography happening for me. :-)
My last visit was during Spring Break earlier this year. We spent most of that time in a little town called Arch Cape, which is just south of Cannon Beach, right smack on the coast. It's so small I am not even sure I would call it a town. It's more like a collection of houses that just happen to have an amazing view behind them.
Also from that first night, just a little later than the first photo...
...and here's the painted version created with Topaz Simplify.
So as you can imagine, I pretty much had the camera on me at all times, and there were a couple of times when the sunset was just too much to resist, and I sprinted down to the beach and fired away. I was in my happy zone.
So today's collection of shots is just that - a collection of shots from a couple of different sunset there in Arch Cape, OR. You should go see this place. It's amazing.
Exploring a sea cave on the Oregon coast
How about 3 photos from the Oregon coast, on a day I went exploring a sea cave? Sound fun? Come check it out!
I'm a pretty curious photographer - you?
When I am out shooting, I find it impossible to resist looking around a corner, or down an alley, things like that. I just HAVE to know what is around the bend, because it's very possibly something that I will want to shoot. Are you like that?
When I was with the family out in Oregon in March of this year, we spent some time at various spots along the northern coast, sort of around the town of Cannon Beach, in case that gives you an idea of the area.
Anyways, one afternoon we opted to check out Hug Point, and so off we went. You never really know what you are going to find. In this case, we found a LOT, and it was all awesome. I just love that area. It's so incredibly gorgeous.
As I was walking along the beach, once again curiosity won out and I waited for the tide to recede a bit so I could walk around a rock outcropping. I just had to see what was beyond it. You're with me right?
Well, I found a sea cave, and yes it was just as awesome as it sounds. I dig this kind of stuff. I loved the movie The Goonies, and this just felt like I was in the dang movie. It was all kinds of awesome. So I shot the cave, I went in the cave and shot outward, and I climbed around and shot some more.
A good way to spend an afternoon, really!
And I know you are curious too - and I suspect you are thinking about pirate treasure, right? Sorry, but I didn't find any of that. Maybe next time!
The rugged beauty of Ecola State Park
Today I share 3 shots from Ecola State Park, just outside of Cannon Beach, OR. It's a rugged but beautiful stretch of coastline - and something that everyone should see.
The view..oh, this view! It's gorgeous, right?
Like all photographers (and all humans, really), I just love looking at a fabulously beautiful landscape. There's just something about nature that speaks to all of us. I personally could stare out into nature everyday (and photograph it everyday, too).
And while I do love photographing cities (since my travels take me to them, I have quite a fondness for all the interestingness found there), I have to admit that I love photographing nature just as much as the next person.
I think if you asked 100 people what kind of photos they like best, "landscapes" would be the answer given by the majority. Humans just love looking at natural beauty.
But seascapes are also incredibly satisfying to observe and photograph. Wherever there is a collision between the ocean and the land, you can bet there is something dramatic to aim the camera towards.
Of course, considering I live about 3 hours from the nearest coastline (and frankly, the Texas coastline isn't all that great), it's rare that I get an opportunity to shoot it. So when I was with the family in Oregon earlier this year, we made a point of getting out to the sea every single day - and it was incredible.
I already loved the Oregon coastline, with all its rugged beauty and those rocks dotted everywhere. But after being there for a week and shooting it constantly, I love it even more now. We frequently talk about when we can return.
This spot is at Ecola State Park, which is just outside of the town of Cannon Beach, OR along the northern coastline in Oregon. It's well worth a visit. I also have a list here on the blog of 5 great photo spots along the northern OR coast - check it out if you're interested!
Hug Point
Waterfalls and sea caves and beaches, oh my!
Have you ever seen The Goonies? It's a great little movie from the 80's about some kids who end up searching for pirate treasure. It's awesome. I absolutely love that movie. They go on a grand adventure, end up in sea caves along the coast, and generally do all the things I wished for as a kid.
It was all filmed in the northern Oregon area, around the town of Astoria and along the coastline near Cannon Beach. Whenever I am in the Cannon Beach area, that movie is on my mind in a big way.
My first shot of this gorgeous scene! I loved this place!
I was first here years ago, returned about 2 years ago with some buddies on a photo trip, and most recently was here back in March. Surprisingly, this was the first time I had ever heard of Hug Point. I'm still apologizing to myself for that! Look at what I had been missing!
This park (or State Recreation Area, to be exact) is not large but it packs in a lot of awesomeness. Just drive south of Cannon Beach for a few minutes, and the parking lot is right off the road. A short walk gets you to the beach. I recommend going right when you get to the beach, and walk around the large rock outcropping you will see there. Hopefully you are there at low tide, or else it may not be passable. I got lucky in that regard, as I never thought about it or checked the tide tables.
A closeup of the waterfall and caves. Yes, I went in the caves, but no treasure, darn it!
Once you get around that bend, you are confronted with the scene that I am showing you today. I didn't see much about this online, and when I arrived I just took a guess and went to the right. Fortunately the tide was out and I could walk around the bend a ways. When I saw this, I starting screaming! Thankfully we were the only ones there. :-) I sounded like a schoolgirl, I'm sure. I was as giddy as one, that's for certain!
I just love stuff like this. It makes me want to be a kid again, and wish I was in a pirate-treasure-hunting movie too! Doesn't that sound fun?
Be honest - don't you want to go see this?
A little wider than the 1st shot, showing more of the waterfalll.
The monolithic Haystack Rock
Have you been to Cannon Beach, Oregon yet? You should go!
I love Oregon, at least all the parts of it that I have seen, and I've seen a pretty good amount of it. On my first trip there years ago, my wife and I spent a couple of days in the seaside town of Cannon Beach and really enjoyed it.
So recently when we planned our family trip out to Oregon, we made sure to include a stop in Cannon Beach on the itinerary. It's not a large town by any means, and is mostly famous as the site of Haystock Rock, which you see in all the photos here in this post.
As is pretty evident, this is one huge chunk of rock. The cool thing to me is that it is pretty close to the beach, and when the tide is out you can actually walk out to it and explore the tide pools around it. Note however that climbing onto the rock is strictly off-limits.
I suspect that has to do with the inherent dangers and liability of people falling or jumping, not to mention that the rock is home to lots of seabirds, including puffins. Sadly, the puffin season did not coincide with my visit. <sad face>
Nonetheless, the tide pools are quite fun to walk around and explore. We saw all sorts of sea anemones and little fish swimming around and it's a great way to spend some free time. Besides, how often can you get up close with that sort of stuff? Coming from Texas, my answer is never. :-)
And being the photography-lover that I am, of course I took all sorts of shots of Haystack Rock. Really, how can you not? You pretty much have to take some shots when you see it, as it dominates the beach, and frankly I find it rather photogenic.
I love trying to capture some reflections in the surf, and luckily on the afternoon that I took these shots the beach was pretty empty, which is rare. We were there for Spring Break (mid-March) and the entire area was pretty quiet. Big win in my opinion.
There are also a couple of smaller rocks nearby, somewhat adjacent to Haystack Rock, and they are known as "The Needles". I think by backing up and including them in the shot, you get a nice balance in your composition, but that's just personal preference.
The truth is that regardless of where you shoot it from, it's a compelling subject, especially under the beautiful seaside skies there. One great thing about the coast - there always seem to be clouds rolling in, and I love having clouds in my photos!
All of these photos are HDR's that were created in Photomatix, with further adjustments made in Color Efex Pro and Aperture (my normal workflow). After creating the shots in Photomatix, I used a couple of filters in Color Efex Pro, namely Detail Extractor (applied selectively), Pro Contrast, Brilliance/Warmth, and a little touch of Glamour Glow. I find these filters help the photo "pop" a bit, and help me bring them to life, more closely resembling what I saw while standing there on the beach. Also, all of these were shot handheld, as I left my tripod in the car while we walked out there. :-) It worked out pretty well though, and usually does as long as I am not shooting in low light.
I hope you enjoyed today's little photo tour of Haystack Rock!
Beneath a million dead stars
When I went to Oregon last year with a bunch of AWESOME photo dudes, one thing we planned on was shooting along the Oregon coast, specifically around Cannon Beach. If you have never been, I highly recommend a visit. That place is just awesome all the way around.
But one thing I did NOT plan on was doing some long exposures of the stars and the Milky Way, such as this one. I had never done this before - and haven’t done it since - and didn’t know anything about it. It’s just not something I normally do. But it’s great to try new things, and I enjoyed the hell out of it!
So we stood on Cannon Beach by ourselves, beneath a million dead stars, and gunned long exposures into the depth of the night. Awesomeness!
The Oregon coast
The world has a lot of beautiful places, and the Oregon Coast ranks right up there in my book as one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. I was visiting that area this past August with some fabulous photographers and friends, and we had a great time firing shots at nearly everything we saw. It was a lot of work, but we got it done. :-)
This is the view from Ecola State Park, looking south along the coast at a secluded cove, towards Cannon Beach. Isn't this place awesome?
Golden Hour at Haystack Rock
Ecola to Haystack
One more photo from my recent Oregon trip. I loved everything about the trip and the spots we chose to photograph, but after 5 straight posts from Oregon, I am a little tired of the subject.
Don't get me wrong - like I said, I loved everything about it - but I tend to crave change here on the blog and I need to mix it up a little. Besides, I can only say "this place is awesome" so many times. It starts to sound a bit hollow, you know?
I do have many, many more shots from Oregon to share, but I will just sprinkle them in here and there. Change is good. Variety is the spice of life. It keeps me feeling energized. Is anyone else like that?
So about the shot - this is the view from Ecola State Park, looking down the coast towards Cannon Beach. You can even see Haystack Rock (the one in my last post) way off in the distance. Just another beautiful spot along the Oregon coast...this place is awesome. :)
Blue hour at Haystack Rock
Some places just steal your heart, and Cannon Beach along the Oregon Coast is one of them for me. You just can't deny the incredible beauty of the coastline here, and no spots are more well-known around here than Haystack Rock.
Haystack Rock is a 235 foot tall monolith which, as you can see pretty plainly here, is just a short stroll from the beach (though access onto it is not permitted). We shot there all through sunset, into golden hour and blue hour, and eventually late into the night where we watched the Perseid meteor shower and shot star trails.
In short, it was freaking incredible!