Sunset in Bandon
A stunning sunset along the southern Oregon coast...
Down along the southern Oregon coastline...
The little town of Bandon, OR packs some serious punch. It's a great place to visit with a camera, because the beach is just gorgeous. There are these amazing sea stacks everywhere and it's a bit difficult to slow down. There's just so much to shoot that you want to run around like crazy and fire at everything. That's what I've done on the 2 occasions I have been there and it's been worth it!
Haystack Rock from my drone
An aerial shot from Cannon Beach, OR during a stunning sunset...
I'm having fun with my drone! It's a new an interesting bit of fun for me!
I've had this drone for a couple of months now and although I haven't been shooting with it a lot, I am definitely getting a better feel for how to use it well. I still have much to learn and experiment with, but I thought I would share this photo today. I captured it during a lovely sunset in Cannon Beach, OR. The aerial perspective is just so fun and unique. I suspect there will be a lot more drone work showing up here on the blog!
Strolling through sunset
A couple strolls along the beach at sunset...
I captured this on Cannon Beach in Oregon last week.
I love Oregon and along the coastline in Cannon Beach is my favorite part of this beautiful state. I have had so much great light here, such as this sunset last week. I was out shooting long exposures at Haystack Rock when I realized that the light was much better behind me. :-)
I turn around and started walking away from the rock, and this couple was sort of walking along near me at about the same speed. I would speed up a little to get a clear shot and then by the time I got the tripod set up and ready, they were in the shot. So, I quite trying to exclude them an instead made them the subject of the shot. Worked out pretty well in my opinion!
One of my favorite sunsets
An incredible display of light one evening along the Oregon coastline...
This one was a stunner!
I have mentioned here many times my love for Oregon, and in particular the coastline in and around Cannon Beach. There is just so much natural beauty in that area that you almost can't believe it. It seems unfair that one place should get so much. But, they have it and we don't, so do yourself a favor and go visit. I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about it.
This was our last night there on that trip (well over a year ago now), and like every night there I was hoping for some decent light. Looks like I got it, right? ;-)
Afternoon at Arch Cape
A pair of photos from an afternoon stroll on the beach in Arch Cape, Oregon...
Still working through Oregon photos. ;-)
We spent a chunk of the Summer of 2015 in Oregon, and I came home with about 9,000 photos. I will probably be working through them for years, which is ok by me. I love diving back into the library and seeing what awaits. It's sort of like a virtual return to the wonderful spots we saw.
If you haven't been to Oregon, I highly recommend a visit at least once. Especially along the coastline, which is stunningly beautiful, you can really enjoy nature and capture some fabulous shots. In fact, I put a list together here on the blog if you want to check it out.
Top Photo Spots On The Oregon Coast
I have been fortunate enough to visit there several times, and always enjoy it. It feels like you are in a movie or something...just so much natural beauty. Today I share a pair of photos I captured on the beach at Arch Cape, Oregon one afternoon. It's a tiny little hamlet just outside of Cannon Beach, and since we stayed in this area we were on this beach almost daily. Good times.
Cotton candy sunset
A lovely, cotton-candy cloud-filled sunset from Oregon. Don't you love it when this happens?
A quick pic from my big trip to Oregon last summer - a beauty of a sunset along the beach in Arch Cape, OR!
This was one of those sunsets that just happens when you least expect it. We were doing our usual walk along the beach at sunset, taking the dog out and just enjoying the beauty of the area. Clouds are always present, which means I have my camera with me all the time. On this evening, the light changed and it all came together in an instant - and I fired away like crazy!
A little bit from Oregon
Even though I am currently in Italy, I still have a lot of Oregon photos to share with you. Take a quick peek at this trio from that lovely state way out West...
Even though our big Oregon trip was last summer, I still have plenty of photos to work through!
Sunset at Oswald West State Park - Arch Cape, OR
I do love Oregon - it may be my favorite state in the US. It's just gorgeous, and there is so much to photograph. We spent about a month there last summer and it was just so awesome. We hiked and explored and I took a bazillion photos. It was amazing.
So, although I am currently traveling through Italy, I brought along some of these Oregon shots to share. I can't make the blog ALL Italy, can I? Well, considering the amount of photos I have been taking, perhaps I could - but only for a couple of years. LOL
Seriously, I have so many Italy photos now, but I have had very little time to process. So once I return home in mid-Sept, you will start to see a lot more. Get ready!! ;-)
A suspension bridge crossed a creek in Oswald West State Park
Sunset in Ecola State Park - Cannon Beach, OR
Twilight in Bandon
Catching a seascape in Bandon, Oregon one evening, just around sunset when the light gets all moody and interesting...
Such an incredible coastline!
Last summer on our epic roadtrip we stopped for 2 nights in Bandon, Oregon. We were en route to the more well-known Cannon Beach, Oregon area but I had seen many pics online of the coastline at Bandon, and wanted to check it out. We stayed two night in hopes I would get at least one good sunset out of it.
I got two!
Yep, I lucked into 2 great sunsets. The first one was gorgeous, and I knew that even if the next night was terrible, at least I would have some good shots. But then the sunset on the second night was just off the charts, so I really did leave Bandon a happy man.
If you want to see a collection of shots from that night, you might want to read this blog post.
Today's photo is a single exposure from that second night, edited in Aurora HDR. I use Aurora all the time for editing single exposures. In this case, I took a set of brackets, but I thought this single shot worked just as well, so I went with it.
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!
Sunset in Arch Cape
Sometimes you work your butt off to get to a sunset location at just the perfect moment - and other times, you just stroll out your door and it appears. This is one of those times. We just wandered out on the beach in Arch Cape, Oregon and this happened. Don't you love that?
Oregon is just stunningly beautiful.
I can't get over Oregon. I keep going back into my library and working on photos from our time there last summer. Since I have about 9,000 photos from that trip, that should keep me busy for a while! ;-)
If you hadn't seen it yet, I recently created a list of the best places to take photo on the Oregon Coast. You can find that list here on the blog. It's pretty long and has my favorite spots and favorite pics from those spots. If you need a quick visual escape, take a look!
These pics today were taken just moments apart on the beach at Arch Cape, OR. It's a little town just south of the more-famous Cannon Beach, and it's a real gem. Even in the middle of summer, I could walk up and down this beach and barely see a soul. In contrast, the beach at Cannon Beach is packed.
We rented a house right across the road from here, so we were out here just about every day (unless we were off exploring elsewhere so I could build up that list I mentioned, ha!). Morning walk on the beach? Check. Post-lunch walk on the beach? Check. Sunset walk on the beach? Check.
Doesn't that sound nice? I think I'm ready to return! I miss it, but then again, it's been almost a year since we were there. Time flies, huh?
Signs you're in Portland
Portland Oregon is a great town! While we were in Oregon this summer, we spent a long day there exploring quite a bit of it. Here are some photos of some cool signs I spotted while there. Enjoy!
Just some wonderful Portland signage today!
I love signs and tend to shoot them a lot when I travel. On our big summer trip, we took one day and drove up to Portland to hang out and have fun (and eat doughnuts!). It was pretty awesome, and made more awesome by the fact that I got to enjoy some tasty beer, incredible doughnuts, and even got an amazing sunset while there! Good times!
So today's post is a short one, in terms of what I'm writing, but I wanted to share these shots and encourage you to go to Portland, and to take some sign photos while there! (oh yeah, and try the doughnuts!)
(click any photo to enlarge by the way!)
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.