Cape Kiwanda

A beautiful sunset at Cape Kiwanda, Pacific City, Oregon.

This was taken from the balcony in our hotel room at The Inn at Cape Kiwanda, which is one of the best places to stay on the Oregon coast. Not the most interesting story for a photo I know, but thats how it happened! It is amazing to step out on the balcony and watch a fantastic sunset like this.

Here's a quick tip to make your sunset pictures pop. Under expose your sunset pictures by up to about one stop. For your standard point-n-shoot this is that +/- button or option and you want it set between -0.3 and -1.0 or so. This will make those sunset colors pop and make the silhouettes darker. Like all things relating to photography, for the best results, play around with it until you find something you like and then do that!

Dramatic Spring Fields

Oregon Coast in the Winter

A family plays on the beach at Cape Kiwanda (Pacific City), Oregon during a break in the weather.

This was taken a couple of months ago. I really enjoy the Oregon Coast in all seasons, but the variance in the Winter weather is really inspiring and dramatic. This shot has a little bit more post-processing then I typically like to do, but I really wanted to have more control over the details in Haystack Rock. So, from the RAW file, I generated two images, with three exposure stops between them. I then fired up the trusty GIMP and layered the two together. Not a full blown HDR, but I like the control I get doing it this way.

Towering Redwoods

Standing under the redwoods and gazing up, you begin to compare them to cathedrals or monuments or simply stand awestruck. To get a hint of that in a picture involves a bit of problem solving. First off, to fit all of this in, I needed a wide lens. After I had that part hashed out I needed to frame the shot. If I was shooting something like this straight across, I'd be moving back and forth to get just the right amount of the tree in the shot. But with the tree towering above me, and the ground below me, I had about six feet of leeway. So to get the shot, I ended up basically laying on the ground, pointing the camera up into the trees. I'm really happy with the look of this shot (easy to say now that the dirt is out of my hair) and I hope that it conveys the sense of smallness these trees impart.

This was taken on a trip to Crescent City last month at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.

Into the Sun

This was taken on the beach in Lincoln City, Oregon. Yeah ... I am a sucker for dramatic sunset pictures. I really do like the lens flare on this one. Just another beautiful Oregon beach!

Fish at Tanner Springs

Fish at Tanner Springs Park, taken last fall.

Tanner Springs is a fantastic little park in Portland's Pearl District. It sounds a little odd but it's below street level and is designed to be a sort of fake wetlands that drains into a small pool. In addition to all that the park is full of walkways and has this fantastic wall built out of old railroad track. The park is a great place to sit and read a book or contemplate or have an interesting conversation with a good friend (or shoot engagement photos, photos by Jennifer Erickson)

Sunset Cove

Sunset Cove, outside of Coos Bay, Oregon.

This was a semi-intentional stop on the way home from Crescent City, CA. Semi-intentional because we saw pretty clouds in the sky and wanted to take a picture, but we'd never been to the beach in Coos Bay. So we started following the signs to "Sunset Cove" - what better place to shoot a sunset then a place called "Sunset Cove"? Turns out that Sunset Cove is actually aways outside of Coos Bay. So we are following the signs and watching the sky turn more and more colorful and driving faster and faster, all the while hoping that around the next curve or bend would be Sunset Cove. Or, at the very least, that we would find the ocean before dusk. At last, just as the sun was falling below the horizon, we pulled into the Sunset Cove parking lot, hopped out the car, grabbed the camera, hurtled over the driftwood logs between me and the beach and managed to snap a photo (or two or three....) just at the peak of the most intense colors!

Sunset Cove was beautiful and I would love to go back. In case you can't tell from the photo, but the sun sets right between the two sea stacks. It's absolutely amazing!

Crescent City Lighthouse

Lighthouse in Crescent City, CA

Me at Punchbowl Falls
Photo by Brad Reinhart

For some odd reason, framing a shot often ends up taking me farther then I really should go. Either I'm climbing over fences to get closer to the cliff (note the location of the fence, yes, I know I have sanity issues) or, in this case, its walking past the "do not walk past this sign" sign. Its not my fault that there was a great shot about 50 feet out on the sea wall! To get this, I waited at the edge of the wall, framing the shot and timing the crashing waves with one eye, while watching for waves crashing into the wall (and thus potentially me) with the other eye. Fortunately I didn't get washed into the sea.

This was taken on a trip to Crescent City last month.

Live the Dream

Full Sail's LTD 01

Sometimes inspiration hits you in odd places. Last night as I was grabbing a beer (a delicious Oregon beer I might add) and thought, "This beer would make a great picture". So, visualized the shot, found a backdrop and laid it out, pulled out my camera, and took a couple of shots. I'm quite happy with how this shot came out and need to continue to experiment with similar shots.

The best part about this picture is that the beer was full when the picture was taken, and it certainly isn't now!

One a day...

In hopes that anyone reading this blog might forgive me for my shear lack of updates, I've gone through all the photos that should have made it to this blog and have stacked up, count them, FIFTEEN posts. That means that each and everyday for the next FIFTEEN days you are for sure, guaranteed a new picture. Beyond that, you probably won't get one every day, but I'm really aiming to be more consistent about updating.

So....with out further ado - I give you One a day, Number One!

My beautiful bride in the evening light