Oregon Coast

[zulu42]

Ive found myself in Southern Oregon on the Coast for several days. Any tips on "must shoot" places?

 

[Derrel]

There is one of the most incredible places on the entire West Coast for photography it is called Samuel H. Boardman State Park. A quick Google search will turn up thousands of fantastic photos. The sea stacks there are very photogenic. I live in Oregon and Samuel H. Boardman is perhaps the most photogenic Oregon coast place that I have ever seen. Another great place are the sea stacks at Bandon,especially the most well-known one,known as Face Rock.

 

[zulu42]

Thanks very much @Derrel. Almost funny that when I googled the area, turns out I'm basically in it! If you're nearby I owe you a beverage

 

[JoeW]

There is one of the most incredible places on the entire West Coast for photography it is called Samuel H. Boardman State Park. A quick Google search will turn up thousands of fantastic photos. The sea stacks there are very photogenic. I live in Oregon and Samuel H. Boardman is perhaps the most photogenic Oregon coast place that I have ever seen. Another great place are the sea stacks at Bandon,especially the most well-known one,known as Face Rock.

First, any advice from Derrel is golden.

Second, I've been to a lot of beaches on multiple continents in my life. Oregon has the most diverse set of beaches of any place on the planet that I've experienced. The tidal pools and haystacks at Cannon Beach are iconic. The NW has a stereotypical beach of fog, rocks, and huge dirt wood---and you'll see some of that on the oregon coast. Big cliffs and big waves--that too. Also, giant sand dunes (drawing a blank on the location). And the mouth of the Colombia River is also pretty nice (cool shipwreck on the shoreline you should shoot).

 

[zulu42]

Great tips thank you Joe.

 

[Derrel]

The shipwreck is the Peter Iredale, which ran hard aground I believe in 1909 or thereabouts the ribs and some parts of the ship are still visible but it is quite far along the north coast, and the OP is in southern Oregon, probably 250-300 odd miles away.

 

[Derrel]

samuel h boardman state park - Google Search

 

[zulu42]

I'm in Gold Beach and I don't expect to travel north of Newport

 

[Derrel]

Ona Beach which is located about 15 miles south of Newport is a nice place for a quick photo walk. It has a beautiful creek lagoon right by Highway 101 and has some really cool places to shoot photos. Another spectacular place in the afternoon is Seal Rock... the Wayside there with a small woods on your way to the beach,is a favorite of mine for spectacular late afternoon crepuscular rays shots, also known as God's rays. Going there in the afternoon from 2 to 5 p.m. this time of year is almost a 50-50 chance on sunny days of getting back lighted Rays coming into the woods. A few miles south of there is a pretty spectacular collection of starfish along rocky shores near a town that most people mispronounce called Yachats (yahhhh- hots). There is also a two of a kind place in the world near one of the big capes, and this place is called Thor's Well. I am no expert on the Southern Oregon coast, but I am very well-versed in the Central and northern coast. Places I have given you today are located in the south coast ( Samuel H. Boardman)and the central coast. The Shipwreck is located in what is called the north Coast since it is about 15 miles south of Washington State.

 

[Derrel]

Oyster boat at anchor in Upper Tillamook Bay, North Oregon coast region. Showing a little bit of a rare snowfall on the lower elevations of the Coast Range Mountains.

Crepuscular rays at Seal Rock Wayside, just seconds off of Highway 101 about 15 miles south of Newport. This is a fairly common afternoon occurrence as fog or sea mist is backlighted by the rays of the setting sun bouncing off of miles of wide-open Pacific Ocean waves.

There are many seagulls and other types of seabirds along the Oregon coast, and here as seen at Seal Rock in the evening the gulls are quite plentiful and will allow you to approach quite close to them.

I call this photo "Drunken New England Patriots Fan Cheers Touchdown". This is an iPhone 4 shot made at Ona Beach, about 15 miles south of Newport.

 

[Derrel]

A rather typical foggy day shot made with a 400 mm lens. There are two small people to be seen in this shot which was made with the old screw-drive 80 to 400 mm VR lens.

It is legal to drive on the vast majority of Oregon Coastal beaches, but at Pacific City it is actually quite common to see people driving along the beach. The issue with driving on the beach is actually getting your vehicle onto the beach, which at Pacific City is a trivial matter, requiring only seconds to go from the parking lot and onto what is called the hard pack, which is hard packed wet sand which even two wheel drive vehicles can negotiate. If you get into water however, or soft deep dry sand then you need 4 wheel drive or a very Nimble 2 wheel drive vehicle like a Volkswagen Baja Bug type car. At Pacific City they launch ocean-going dory boats right from the beach directly into the ocean, mainly during the summer and fall salmon and bottom fishing seasons.

One of my favorite Sunset photos is of a wave as it came ashore right along the beach at sunset. I made this photo with the 70 to 200 VR and the old Nikon D3x back in 2012 on the last day of the year, which was an unusually warm day and which drew throngs of people to Pacific City. Even though it was the last day of December the high temperature was about 69 degrees.

 

[Derrel]

 

[zulu42]

Visited several locations listed above today, albeit briefly. Mrs zulu42 captured a shot of me chasing a sunset shot

 

[JoeW]

Damn Derrel--too many of your posts to pick one out as the "Winner" but all are great.

 

[zulu42]

Another photo courtesy of mrs zulu, whose phone pictures routinely put my photos to shame