South Oregon Coast - Highway 101

The southern part of the Oregon Coast, is a place that keeps Ron and I coming back for more. There always seems to be something new to explore and discover. With cameras in hand and the truck loaded to the hilt, we left on June 23rd, and drove all the way to Grants Pass, Oregon on Interstate 5. We pulled into a little motel around 11:30 PM that night. The next morning, we drove into Northern California to get to Brookings, Oregon where we had planned on camping (at Harris Beach State Park) for the next three days, while we photographed the beach and surrounding area.

There were lots and lots of people there, which made it difficult to get a nice beach shot. Our first night at Harris Beach was peaceful. However, the second night we got no sleep at all, because of the rowdy, profane, drunk kids that were camped there. We decided to leave a day earlier than planned, and headed up to Bandon and Bullards Beach State Park. The difference between the parks was like night and day. Bullards was so quiet, peaceful and private, and a very clean well-kept park. We loved it. (Have you noticed that Ron always wears the same shirt? He really does have more than one shirt....he just loves to wear this one everytime we go anywhere!)

(Below: Harris Beach State Park.....our first night camping.)

We drove down to Northern California, into the Redwoods again, hoping to find a good photo opportunity, but nothing felt right. We drove out onto a pier in Crescent City, across from the lighthouse there, and found a good spot to take a nap. Driving sure makes us sleepy!

Lunch, in the Redwood National Forest.

Below, Ron taking a photo on the beach......he is next to the rock in the lower left hand corner of the photo......that should tell you how huge those rocks are.

The first day that we arrived in Bandon, the wind was blowing pretty hard, even though the sun was shining. I think that we got some of our best shots on that first night.

Below: me, with my camera and tripod, photographing the surf and sunset

I got Ron in the corner of this photo with his tripod. We tried several shots before the sun went down, but our best ones were after the sun set.

The sea stacks on the beach at Bandon are extremely interesting, and HUGE.

I found a seagull that was very cooperative in letting me take his photo. He perched on the top of this sea stack for almost 15 mintues. He must have liked the view.

The sunset that evening was really beautiful. The wind died down after the sunset, so it was quite peaceful on the beach. It was pretty dark though, and I just about lost Ron a couple of times. We were photographing different things, and it got so dark that we lost track of each other for a while. That's a rather disconcerting feeling, to say the least.

Every way we turned, there was beautiful color and fascinating, huge sea stacks.

During the day, we would travel either north or south and explored different areas. We found this beautiful cliffside, just south of Humbug Mountain State Park. There were daisies everywhere.

One of the biggest things you have to deal with for photography, is the weather. Somedays it is great, but just plan on most of the days to be lousy. In the photo below of Bandon Beach, the sky was pretty bland, so I put a Singh Ray Blue and Gold filter on to give it some color.

We had fog almost every morning, but it usually burned off by midday. Below, is a photo of Ron standing on the edge of the Coquille River, next to the Lighthouse there. The Lighthouse is located in Bullards Beach State Park.

The town of Bandon is really cute. The Old Town is right on the waterfront of the Coquille River, and there are lots of nice shops.....we found one with homemade fudge and ice cream. There was also a great little place to get Fish and Chips.

Below: another view of Bandon Beach.

It's easy to get stuck in a rut when you have a camera in your hand.....it's hard to be creative all the time. So for this trip, I really wanted to try my hand at some different photo techniques. So, here are the results of a couple of different things that I tried.

This is a multiple exposure picture......it is actually 10 pictures in one. I love the look and feel that it gives....it looks like a painting. You can set your camera to take as many multiple exposures as you like...you then click the shutter, only moving the camera very slightly for each picture. The camera then processes all the pictures into one composite, and the results are very unique and interesting. There has been no Photoshop manipulation.....it was all done "in camera."

Here is another multiple exposure.....of trees this time.

We visited Shore Acres again this trip, north of Bandon, and walked through the formal flower gardens that are on the grounds. There is a pond with Lilly pads in the Japanese Garden area. This photo was taken with a Singh Ray Soft Ray filter, to give an ethereal feel to it.

The roses were in bloom, and there must have been every color under the sun. I really liked these white ones. This was taken with the Soft Ray filter again.

This is the Coquille River Lighthouse, which is at Bullards Beach State Park.

This is the Coquille River Lighthouse, taken with a multiple exposure, so it looks more like a watercolor painting.

It is always fun to try something new.......and we always learn something new everytime we go out on a photo shoot. Hopefully, one of these days we'll come back with the "killer" shot. All in all, we did pretty good for sleeping in a tent for 7 days! We discovered how stiff we can be in the morning! But by the end of the day, we were in great shape, trying to keep ahead of the incoming tide. It's a lot of fun anyway.