Shore Acres - Angry Ocean

There is an area on the Oregon coast where the oceans fury can really show her stuff, especially in the winter stormy months. Shore Acres State Park is just such an area. There is an iconic shot that I am after that has eluded me on previous trips to this area. Shore Acres can be accessed from the Coos Bay, North Bend Area Via the Cape Arago Hwy. As you travel west you will pass through the town of Charleston then You will have the opportunity to visit three state parks in succession; Sunset Bay State Park, Shore Acres, and finally Cape Arago State Park.

I was mainly concerned with visiting Shore Acres because I knew what I was after. There is a $5.00 parking fee here, but well worth it in my opinion. You get an added bonus at this park; the Botanical Gardens are truly beautiful during the spring and summer months. In the winter months the gardens are transformed into a holiday light spectacular; a tradition started by the Friends Of Shore Acres in 1987. Here is a link for detailed info on this event.

Now back to the photography. The seas were moderately angry and I did see potential for some good wave action. I proceeded to mount my Sigma 70-200 2.8 lens and secure it to the tripod before leaving the parking area. The skies were unstable and squalls were threatening to roll in overhead. The park has constructed a nice viewing structure when conditions get to stormy to stay outside, I did use it to dry off myself and equipment a couple of times. As I shot I knew I needed to stop the wave action with a fast shutter speed so I left off the polarizer and set my camera to fire in burst mode. I spent the next 45min shooting three shot bursts and waiting for the sun to show. Out of the 100 frames I took this is really the only shot I was marginally happy with, the waves can get twice as high under the right conditions. Another point I will make is lens selection. The 70-200 was the wrong lens for this shoot and my 16-20 would be to wide. Ideally a 24-70 would be perfect in my opinion. I will definitely shoot this area again. It is exhilarating watching the waves and trying to capture that perfect shot.

Bandon Oregon A Photographers Dream

   I’ve seen such beautiful photography come out of the Bandon, Oregon area; yet I’ve never accessed the beach the several times through the area until recently. Bandon is a very small community with only one public beach access sign from Hwy #101. What make Bandon’s beaches so photogenic are the numerous sea stacks that are tightly bunched in this one stretch of beach. As I approached the beach from Hwy #101 the first area I came to was called Oregon Islands; an area I had never heard of before. I didn’t recognize this area from photos I’ve seen during my research for this trip.

   It was getting late in the day and the wind was blowing hard at 50mph gusts. I scouted the area for a short while and then we called it a day and proceeded north to Coos Bay to stay the night. That next morning Laurie and I drove back to Bandon on a much calmer day, also there were patches of blue sky with fluffy clouds. I was getting somewhat hopeful for a good shoot. As we arrived at Oregon Islands once again we simply drove south on Beach Loop Dr. for ¼ mile and arrived at Face Rock State Park. I immediately recognized this area by the many sea stacks as the area I had seen, and wanted to shoot. I donned my extreme weather coveralls, rubber boots and wool hat; grabbed my tripod and camera bag and set off for some fun. There are so many compositions to be had here I could spend several days at sunrise and sunset staying very busy enjoying this area in the future.  I noticed some very nice rental homes overlooking the area and thought of a future 3-day weekend here would be great.