Notes To My Mother

This past year has been full of adventure for me, seeing new and exciting places like Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, the island of Kauai, Europe from Amsterdam to Budapest on the Rhine and Danube rivers, the Oregon Coast and finally Utah’s Arches and Canyonlands national parks along with a first time visit to Monument Valley. I felt like my plate had been filled to overflowing. These were all wonderful topnotch places to visit and photograph. But the one that stands out in my mind and that I would like to get back to as soon as I can is Bandon, Oregon. The beach here is a very special place. Photographer's Paradise It wasn’t just the location of lodging across the street from the beach, although that was definitely an attractive convenience. What I liked about Bandon, or Face Rock Beach, was the gentle slope of the beach. A wave would come in and simply glide forever over the sand, at times providing a glass like surface to reflect the rocks and the c...

There are a lot of things that go into making a great photograph. Among these are the light, weather conditions, perspective, proper focus, and of course great foreground, background and subject to name a few. And yet given all of those things the image will fall short if the overall composition isn’t a good one. I think composition is the most challenging and the most rewarding of all of the aspects of photography. More than anything else, composition is where the personality or personal expression of the photographer comes into play. It is through their choice of composition that you begin to discover how they see their world. A good composition can turn an ordinary scene into a photogenic one. I am reminded of the lighthouse in Bandon, Oregon. To me it was a less than ordinary lighthouse, nothing particularly photogenic about it. I had seen it from a restaurant window and had decided it was not worth the trouble to drive over to photograph it  A week later on m...

This morning I am still in Bandon, Oregon, and plan to grab some images, get cleaned up, eat breakfast and drive to Manzanita. First its grab the images. There is a minus tide this morning so there will be some unique opportunities: starfish. When the tide goes out it exposes the lower levels of the rocks on the beaches along with the pools of water surrounding them. I have heard the starfish population has been suffering of late due to, I am told, some kind of virus.  I am hoping they are not all gone.  I am anxious to get to the beach at first light, and since it is right across the street from where I am staying I am very pleased. The beach is so different this morning from the night before. It as if I had relocated to and entirely new location. One of the signature images here is Face Rock which is what the beach is named after, Face Rock Beach. There is beauty here in the mornings that was totally unexpected given what I had experienced the night befo...

Driving up the Oregon Coast I found myself falling in love with this state. First you come to Brookings, a small town with Harris Beach a very popular stop and Boardman State Park. The park extends north of town and has several viewing sites along the highway. All very beautiful, but continue on to Bandon. Oh Bandon! What a paradise for site seers and photographers. The beaches at Bandon, as with most of the beaches in Oregon have a very gradual incline so that when a wave comes in it breaks and the glides and glides toward the high water mark. What this accomplishes for the photographer is a wonderfully reflective surface. Put something interesting to reflect, add some color in the sky and you have Bandon. In addition to the reflective qualities, the fact the beaches incline is gradual means you can stand out in the surf without being inundated by the waves. This is not true at all of the beaches in Oregon, and not even at Bandon when the surf is rough, but when it is calm, it is...