A few days on the Oregon Coast (dialup's be warned)

[Xithras]

As much as I enjoy hiking and photographing the great state of California, I have to admit that my heart truly belongs to the Pacific Northwest. This year I decided to pack my kids up and do some camping, hiking, and sightseeing on the Oregon coast. Since my Rebel is out of action, I ended up shooting the whole trip on my Canon A75, While I certainly missed the versatility of an SLR, I came away from this trip with a new respect for the versatility of Canon point-and-shoot digitals. I shot over 300 images on my five day trip, and only had one bad photo that I could attribute to the camera (most of the problems were related to the guy behind the viewfinder). So without further ado, here are some of my faves for your critique.
Shasta over the Klamath Valley


Oregon Coast - One of the worlds most tranquil places.


Misty Sunrise - Since we were camping only a few miles in from the coast, a thin marine layer crept in every night creating surreal mornings as the sun climbed over the ridgelines.


Blue, Blue Ocean - Devils Churn


Fireworks! - I have about 100 fireworks shots from watching two nights of displays in Waldport and Yachats, but this is one of my favorites.


Stony Beach - Bob Creek meets the mighty Pacific.


Innocence - My kids playing on the beach at Yachats

[F.Gordon]

1. Super

All great!! I love "Misty Sunrise" and "Blue :P, Blue Ocean". And I see you entered a photo in the contest. Very nice. It looks like you had an incredible trip. I'm envious. We're doing some short Mountain trips in the next couple of months so maybe I can come up with a decent Landscape snapshot or two. I don't have a friggin' clue what to do for water. I've shown Ms F everything I've dug up and I just get huge frowns from her on all my water stuff. :-(

I'd love to put your Fireworks!! photo in the gallery with the rest if you wouldn't mind. As RagingInMiami has discovered... it's pretty secure.

[Xithras]

3. No problem.

I didn't even know there WAS a fireworks gallery :) If you think it's worthy, I have no problem with you posting it there.

By the way, Misty Sunrise is the only photo I posted that hasn't been modified in any way. All of the rest have been despeckled, cropped, color balanced, and sharpened to make up for deficiencies in the lowly 3.2Mpixel A75, but Misty Sunrise is a completely unmodified color photo straight out of the camera (I scaled it, that's it). The picture was shot with the camera in my hand, on all automatic settings, as I was walking down a short trail. When I got home and plugged the images into my PC, I was shocked to see how eerily beautiful the picture was.

[F.Gordon]

4. Thanks. It's very worthy.

Nice addition to the rest at....

http://photogroup.smugmug.com/gallery/640619/5/27771795

I have some snapshots I took with my lowly 2meg Nikon 950 that I'll try to post soon. Shot bright sunset through the smoke of a forest fire. Don't discount your A75.... it's a good camera.

[funkybutt]

2. Wow! Beautiful!

well done

:hi:

[regnaD kciN]

5. That's it! I need to get out there NOW...

Seeing this, it just struck me that, although I've lived on Puget Sound for almost twenty-three years, I've never been to the Washington or Oregon coasts. In fact, I've never been to the Pacific coast anywhere north of Marin County.

There's only one problem...even if I went out there with my camera tomorrow, I'd never be able to get photos as good as yours. Great work!

[Immad2]

6. Excellent and beautiful pictures, Xithras. The Klamath Valley...

I was born in Klamath Falls, Oregon but moved before I was 6 months old . I had never seen Klamath until just now, thanks.

[Xithras]

7. Technically, that image is slightly mistitled.

The photo is actually of the Shasta Valley, which is a part of the Klamath Basin...which Klamath Falls is a part of. That explanation was too long for the title, so I just shortened it to "Klamath Valley". The photo was also taken just before the Oregon border, so you're technically looking at the California end of the Klamath Basin.

One of these years I'd like to spend a day or three just exploring the basin. It's a diverse area...the end I was on is dry and rolling cattle country, but other stretches are forested, and still others are flat farm country. Photographically it's a gorgeous and diverse area, but it's also very hot and dry.