Bandon Oregon

Coast and Mountains

We drove two days to reached Bandon Oregon: Scottsdale to Las Vegas to Hawthorn, NV where we stayed the night, then on to Coos Bay and Bandon. It was about 22 hours of driving time. We came with the hope of photographing sea stacks along the coast but also to camp and explore the temperate rain forests of coastal region.

When we arrived, it was late in the day so we rented a cheap motel room in Coos Bay. From there we went scouting around Bandon for photo locations. Bandon Beach, seen here from Face Rock state park seemed like a good place to come back to.

We also scouted Bullard’s Beach State Park which is where the historic Coquille River lighthouse is located. This also seemed a good place to come back to.

The following morning we went looking for a place to set up our base camp for the next few days. We found this camping spot in nearby Elliott State Forest.

Our camp site was surrounded by deep green forests.

The next morning we woke up to fog that flowed across the mountains as it cleared. I took this photo from our camp site after breakfast.

While we were exploring the forest around our camp I kept thinking of a line from a Gordon Lightfoot song:

"The green dark forest was too silent to be real".

As I've said in the past woodland photography is difficult for me because, as someone who lives in the desert southwest, I don't get a chance to practice it much. I do know the basic principles. In particular the main challenge of woodland photography is finding a way to find some kind of order in all the chaos.

This was my first attempt to do that on this trip. I think the photo works OK but it relies on a cinematic aspect ratio to enhance what little order exists in the scene. Using this aspect ratio I maximize the horizontality of the pine branch running across the frame into the center where a bright spot of sunlight creates a focus. Vertical tree trunks on the left help balance the composition and frame it.

Not a portfolio image by any means but still pretty.

After spending time in the forest we moved down to Bandon for lunch and then site-seeing around the harbor there:

As the afternoon advanced, we moved on back to Bandon Beach scouting for a good location to photograph the sea stacks as the sun set. We hiked down to the beach and walked South looking for picturesque spots (of which there were many).

I chose a spot for my sunset image that featured Wizard Rock and settled in to wait for the light.

Unfortunately, the sky was clear and cloudless which is not conducive to spectacular sunset landscape photos. As always, I made the best of the situation and created this image.

To create the image I maximized the warm sunset tones of the sky combined with the sun star to increase the significance of the silhouetted sea stacks. I combined that with reflections of the stacks in water flowing down the beach to add depth and provide a leading flow towards the rocks.

As the sun set we drove back up into the mountains to our camp site, had a light dinner and fell into our sleeping bags.

Next morning we took the Jeep and continued exploring deep into the forest around our camp site.

After spending the morning in the forest, we returned to Bandon for lunch and then more coastal photography.

The plan this evening was to photograph the Coquille lighthouse at sunset. However, the conditions deteriorated rapidly with thick fog moving in. I made the best images I could with what I had to work with.

In this image I set up to take a quick photo before the fog obscured the lighthouse. In this case the I used the fog to obscure distracting elements in the background across the river. I also added a light in the lighthouse tower in photoshop. I like shooting lighthouses but when there is no light in the tower I think they lack “lighthouseness” so I engage in a little artistic license and light them up. I don’t feel bad about that, these are fine art photographs, not editorial photographs so I don’t feel bound to a faithful reproduction of the location. On the other hand, I would never pretend that I didn’t modify the image.

Conditions to photograph continued to deteriorate as the bank of fog rapidly moved in from off-shore. The light was flat. There wasn't much in the way of color from the sunset.

So again, I was forced to make the most of what I had available to me. As I often do when such conditions persist I shot this photograph with the intention of processing it in black and white. As I composed it I envisioned how it would look as a high contrast monochrome image and I made my composition choices accordingly.

Once again I took some artistic license and added a light in the tower. I think the light, with the fog and windblown dune grass, sets a dark and intriguing mood. You’ll see some more of this coming up.

I'm pretty pleased with this moody take on the Coquille River lighthouse.

The next morning we once again awoke to clouds below us in the forest. We repeated our general agenda from previous days — exploring the forest in the morning and moving down to the coast in the afternoon.

On this morning we went in search of waterfalls to photograph. We ended up at Golden and Silver Falls State Park.

This photograph is of Golden Falls as the sun comes up over the mountain. This is the best image I got from the state park. Water flow was very low since it was the end of the summer and the falls were both just mostly a trickle.

It was still a pretty place and we had it to ourselves so instead of focusing on photography we spent the morning hiking up the various trails and exploring. If I ever return to this part of Oregon I will make a point of finding waterfalls to photograph. There are a number in the region that I would like to visit and explore.

After the waterfalls we moved back down to the coast. We drove South to Port Orford and visited the nearby Cape Blanco lighthouse. I really like photographing lighthouses. There's something about them that always feels historic, romantic and compelling — like there's a good story there.

In any event, the weather conditions were horrible. We had thick fog rolling in and gale force winds.

Once again, in an attempt to make the best photo I could given the conditions, I shot several images of the lighthouse with the intention of processing them in black and white.

This image was the best from the set and, I think, from the trip. I love this image.

Catching two human figures struggling against the wind to reach the lighthouse makes the photo. Their struggle against the elements adds drama to the photo. Coupled with the fog and the and the cinematic style crop and you have a moody image that I think fires the imagination.

Someone told me, “There’s a novel in that photo.” I couldn’t agree more.

As before, I took artistic license to light up the lighthouse in photoshop. I think it adds an important element to the story of the image, even if a fictional one.

I continued to shoot photos at the light house and from the surrounding park, trying to make the most of the conditions with mixed results…

After this, we drove back down to Port Orford for a light dinner and then hiked down along the beach there.

Since conditions for seascape photography were generally pretty dismal I fell back to the last refuge of a frustrated landscape photographer -- detail photographs.

The tide was out so there was lots of sea life clinging to the rocks to photograph.

This isn't something I've really experienced before. I was surprised at how much color there was in the life on the rocks. Here's a couple images that I think capture that color.

Once the sun set we drove back up to our campsite for sleep.

When we woke up we were surrounded by thick fog. We broke camp and got on the road towards home. The plan for the day was to drive down to Crescent City, CA. As we travelled downt the coast, the fog moved in and out. When conditions were good, we stopped for photographs along the coast.

I was enjoying photographing drift wood on the beach as we travelled South. If I ever return to Oregon I’m going to photograph a lot more drift wood.

In any event, we arrived in Crescent City around noon and checked into our Motel. From there we drove up into the “Grove of Titans” in Jedediah Smith and Redwoods National and State Park. I wanted to take the opportunity to photograph some redwoods although I only had a few hours to drive and hike before we’d lose the sun. Once again, conditions were spotty for woodland photography so I don’t feel like I got any portfolio quality images. It doesn’t really matter, though. The forest was green, quiet and beautiful and we had it almost completely to ourselves once we got off the main road.

The problem with photographing redwoods is two-fold. First, you have the usual problem of photographing in woodlands where you have to find some way to make sense of the chaos of the forest. Second, you have the problem of how to give an idea of the scale of things in the photo.

In this photo I mostly ignored the chaos problem. I did try to resolve the scale issue. The only way I know to show the scale of these trees is to include people in the image. So, that's what I did. Here we are among the redwoods. Can you even see us?

I also shot this image that I hoped would manage the chaos of the forest somewhat but there was no attempt here to show scale. Plus the lighting and time of day weren't helping me much. You'll just have to trust me — those trees were amazing.

I like this one although it doesn't say "redwood forest" at all. It could have been shot in any forest.

I like the dimensionality of it with a foreground, middle ground with subject, and then a background softened by mist with warm light rays coming into the frame from the left and highlighting the stump.

It makes the stump seem very old which fits the feeling of the ancient-ness of the forest.

Someone used the word “primordial” to describe this image. I think that works.

I like this image of intertwined roots in the forest. If I could return to this spot at a time with better conditions I think I could make a portfolio image here but that’s the problem with these short photo trips. Time is short and you have to take what you get.

After this we returned to our motel to sleep and the next morning started driving home.

It was still 20+ hours of driving to get home so I expected we would spend the night in LA but when we got there I still felt good. I kept driving with the intent to stop when I got too tired and either find a place to stay or let Marla drive but I never did get tired.

I ended up driving the whole 20+ hours home.