Fourth of July Vacation Day

One of the advantages of Ann getting up at 4:00 am every morning is that she can put in 4 long work days per week and get Friday off. This year, unfortunately, that meant that the 4th of July holiday landed on her day off, so we didn’t get our usual extra long weekend with the holiday. But since the holiday wound up on her day off, Ann got to schedule a day off later in the month. So last Thursday Ann and I took Ann’s 4th of July vacation day. We took off after work on Wednesday to spend a couple of nights in Yachats and catch a full day of photographing at Seal Rock.Simply put, last Thursday was one of the most photographically productive days Ann and I have ever had. From our 3:30 wake-up to catch sunrise to finally returning for good some time after 10 pm, we seemed to find a photographic groove time and time again. So instead of writing too much, I’m mostly just going to post images from throughout the day. These are all .jpg images without any corrections/enhancements on any of them.

After making our obligatory pot of coffee, he headed up to Seal Rock and decided to photograph on the beach area to the north. Getting there requires a little hike up the highway, then down a creek to get to the beach. We never made it back towards the taller rock outcroppings because the view from where we entered the beach was amazing. As we photographed, the sun kept rising and we didn’t want to waste the short window of light we had with walking. So we photographed.

The skies quickly went from deep blues to light blues and pinks.

To lovely soft pastels.

As the sun fully rose, the light became more normal and I started looking elsewhere for images.

We had timed our “vacation” to take advantage of a lowering tide early in the morning - something we forgot to do during our last trip to the coast.

As we kept photographing the clouds rolled in.

Which changed the photographic opportunities altogether yet again.

The clouds eventually lifted, people started flooding the beach and we were tired and hungry.  Time for breakfast.  

Afterwards we headed down to Strawberry Hill and to the Bob Creek Wayside.  At Strawberry Hill we managed one shot before the incoming tide forced us off the rocks and cut off our beach route to rock outcroppings far beyond.

Our luck wasn’t much better at Bob Creek.  Most of the rocks there were inundated by the quickly rising tide and people scrambling all over the rocks that were accessible.  So we decided to return to the rocks in front of our hotel.  It was a smart move.

After grabbing a bite for dinner, we headed back to Seal Rock, this time to explore the beach to the south as the ocean hit low tide (the higher low tide to be precise).

Once the sun started lowering, the color show began.

Just like with the sunrise earlier that day, it seemed that you could make a lovely image wherever you pointed the camera.

And while you think a sunset lasts forever, it doesn’t.  The light changes so quickly it seems like there is no time to find alternative images to make.  You're afraid to take too long looking because the light will be gone.

And at some point, you just stop and enjoy the view.  Well, actually we do that a lot.  And then get back to making images.

It was one incredible 4th of July Holiday.  Even if we did have to wait a couple of weeks before we could take it.