In search of Lighthouses....

My wife and I recently took a little trip with the kids over to the shore. As usual, I'm always trying to balance family trips with how much shoot time I can get in before my wife yells at me and makes me stay at the cabin. We decided on a cabin over near the Cape Disappointment State Park and anytime I'm over that way I'm gunnin' for the two lighthouses that reside in that park.

The light on this trip wasn't the most ideal, but that didn't stop me from getting some great shots. I love this area because it's located right at the mouth of the Columbia River, on the Oregon border. After all the flooding we've had this past few years the driftwood has really built up. It amazing how these gigantic trees get uprooted a hundred miles or more inland and find their way to the mouth of the river where the ocean tides turn them right around and deposit them on all of the area beaches. Its really quite a sight.

It certainly makes for great photography.

Night Falls on Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

A path through the Driftwood leads to the Ocean
Cape Disappointment State Park, WA

A fence line protects the beach from erosion

Cape Disappointment State Park, WA

North Head Light

Cape Disappointment State park, WA

North Head Light
Cape Disappointment State Park, WA

Cape Disappointment, named for the explorer who became
disappointed after not being able to find the mouth of the Columbia.

The Jeanie O

Long Beach, WA

Overlooking the Pacific Ocean from the bluff at North Head
Cape Disappointment State park, WA

The oyster boat "Hero"
Willapa Bay, WA

A Morning Worth A Million Words

The light this morning was astonishing. I've spent a lot of mornings out in the cold wishing and waiting for the kind of light that met me this morning. All the elements... temperature, humidity, dew point, time of day, time of year, all came together producing conditions as rare as they were beautiful. And it didn't last, maybe Ten minutes at most, and then it was gone again, leaving as quick as it came.

This morning found me wishing I could freeze time. What better way to capture still photographs than in a still universe. How wonderful that would be. I will be out again tomorrow, waiting... hoping that lightning will strike twice, even though I know it wont. One of the harsher realities of photography is the fact that no matter how hard you try, you cannot duplicate a photograph. The light will never be the same. It might, if the stars align, be as good, but it will never be the same.

Great light is fleeting, as it should be I guess.

Recent Favorites

I haven't posted in a little while but have been shooting a lot. (as usual) I thought I would just post some of my recent favorites.

Snoqualmie Pass

With all of the recent rains, I thought it would be a great idea to throw the kids in the car and go up to Snoqualmie Falls. I had been up recently the last time the river was high so I figured this time would be even better. Well I was mistaken. (and a bit surprised) It seems we were a day or two too late, the river had already crested and was on it's way back down to normal levels. The kids were still blown away by the falls but I admit I was a bit disappointed. We didn't stay long and were soon back in the car heading home when Ian said that it was a shame that we came all this way to not stay so long. I said well, we could go up to the pass and look for snow. They both agreed so we were on our way.

The Snaoqualmie Pass is the route you take across the Cascades on I90. Similar to the mountain crossing in Virginia, the elevation is high and the weather is most times bad during Winter months. I knew there was some weather in the area so I was cautious to insure that we would not get stuck on the pass with out traction tires or chains. As we climbed the mountain sure enough as I predicted, the temperature quickly dropped to freezing and the rain quickly changed to snow. the road was still wet so we decided to try to make it to the top. As we got higher the snow got deeper along the sides of the road. I remember Brandon remarking on how the snow wasn't really that deep, it was just pushed up along the sides of the road. He was right but I knew we were in for a real treat.

As we reached the top we pulled off on the exit for the ski resort and made our way toward someplace to park. The boys about peed themselves when they realized how deep the snow was. I would imagine it was about 5 or 6 feet deep with drifts up to 10 to 15 feet. Definitely more snow than they'd ever seen. Needless to say they couldn't get out of the car fast enough. My only concern was the fact that they weren't really dressed for the snow but kids don't seem to really care I guess.

We found a great river and I took some shots as the kids played. What a treat that was for all of us. I had been up on the pass many times but never really had a chance to get out and look around. It was a true winter wonderland with the snow falling. I will not soon forget that little side trip...neither will the boys I think.