My Oregon Coast getaway...

  I felt the call of the beach today, and happily found myself on the Oregon Coast.  It was needed...when life is stressful or just simply seems to be going at the speed of light, the beach refreshes me and rejuvenates my soul.  I heeded the call and was rewarded with a marvelous day at the coast.  :~)

Heceta Head Lighthouse.

OK...not quite to the coast yet.  This guy was hoping I had some food to throw out for him.
I could almost hear him say, "What?  No fries?  No bread?  Loser."

About to land...

This one isn't so obvious to figure out.  I stopped at Takenitch Lake, and this is plant life near the shore.
The shadows are from the tree above.

A wind-blown coast tree.

The view from Oregon Dunes Recreation Area.

Heceta Beach, with Heceta Head Lighthouse hiding up on the cliff.

Ocean view...

From the top looking down...

Sea birds...and the white ones are pelicans.  This rock is not quite straight down, but fairly close. 

A wave pounding the rocks...and those persistent little trees...at Yachats.

One of the unwritten rules of photography, as told by my instructor..."The eyes have it".

As it got closer to evening, the coast started to get fogged in and hazy.
This picture is taken from the cliff above Yachats.

Almost evening...

Sea grass

Pelicans...I think they are fabulous!  There were 5 of them hanging on the beach
with an entire flock of seagulls.  This one was actually fishing...where he is standing, the creek is
flowing at a pretty good clip into the ocean.

"One of these things is not like the others..."

Primping...

And more primping...

Sunset 1...what it actually looked like.  

Sunset 2...with different AWB settings.

Sunset 3...with yet another AWB setting.

The elk were out in force at the Elk Viewing area.  They are amazingly beautiful animals!

I stopped at Sea Lion Caves, just north of Florence.  The sea lions weren't in the cave, but were out playing in the breakers that were pounding the cliffs.  To put it mildly, they were getting a wild ride!!

This guy (compare to the other sea lions in the pics above...he's barking on one of the pics)
was HUGE!  He must be the grand-daddy of them all!

A final view of Heceta Head Lighthouse, from the beach below it.

Class Assignment: "Water"

I love this picture.  The tree, shrubs, and rocks are framing the water, drawing the eye to the center of the picture and the moving water.  I think this is the photo I'm sending in for our class assignment this week.  ISO 100, f-29 aperture, and the exposure time was a full 20 seconds! ( I thought it would never finish!)

We hiked down the cliff to take photos of the narrows, just above Idewyld.  Dusk was approaching, and the view was magnificent.  This photo and the one below it are the same shot...in this shot, the ISO was 1600, and the shutter stayed open for only 1/664th of a second. 

ISO 100, f-32 aperture, and the shutter stayed open for a full second to capture the movement.

This photo and the two that follow are also the same shot...same telephoto, same tripod placement.   ISO is 100, aperture was set to f-5, and the shutter remained open for 1/41 of a second.  

Part II:  Longer exposure, slower shutter speed.  ISO 100, f-32, exposure time 1 second.  

Part III:  ISO 100, f-32, and the exposure time was 2.5 seconds.

"Nature In My Backyard"

OK, so I cheated.  Our HW assignment was "Nature In My Backyard".  I went to mom and dad's, and used nature from their backyard. You should have seen it...pouring down rain on Sunday afternoon,  me wearing dad's knee boots, laying on my stomach on the muddy hill, all to get these shots of the flowers that line their driveway.  My instructor summed it up best...he said, "Someone should have taken a picture of you!"

It really was my intention to blur the background...I'm still amazed that it actually worked.  :~)  I wanted to emphasize the water dripping from the petals, and focus on the softness of the flowers.  The focus could have been a little better, but I kinda like the ethereal look.  

Class, part II...

Another example...stop motion, high ISO, fast shutter speed.  Can't for the life of me remember the aperture.  

Same shot, slower shutter speed.  Once again, can't remember the aperture setting.  I'll get it straight...someday.

Photography class

OK.  SO our class assignment was to take our tripods, saunter out to the fountain on campus, and play with our cameras.  I'm trying to figure out the relationship between aperture, ISO, and shutter speed.  Here, I have managed to stop motion, and can see the individual units of water.

Same here...still stopping motion, high ISO, fast shutter speed.

Here, I have managed to capture what I so eloquently call the "milky effect".  Much slower shutter speed,  have to use a tripod because camera shake would be a problem if I tried to capture this shot by hand.

I also figured out how to use my timer to reduce shake while on the tripod.

Cool, huh?  :~)

My dad...

Dad was a sport and accompanied me out on the back 40 on this rainy Sunday as I was looking for the elusive "Nature In My Backyard" photograph for class.   It was wet!  My favorite part, though, even though you can't see it...he was wearing shorts to complete the camo outfit.  :~)

Canada signs...and birds

Every little town or village seems to heave these wonderful signs welcoming you.  Port Hardy is the northernmost town on Vancouver Island. 

Telegraph Cove, just down the road from Alder Bay.

Port McNeill was the closest town, and sported a grocery store and a drug store that we frequented for supplies (like my unscented sun screen that we had to search for...no scents allowed around the grizzlies).

The First Nations welcome sign at the ferry dock at Alert Bay.

Great Blue Heron

Believe it or not, a bald eagle.  They do not get the white head til they are between 4 and 5 years of age.  They go through a brown phase, and a mottled phase...and we got to see eagles in all three of these phases.

One of the majestic bald eagles that are residents of Alder Bay.