Christmas in Bandon
What better way to start out the new year than by closing out the last?
Ann and I decided we wanted to spend this Christmas by ourselves doing what we so love doing, photographing. After following the seemingly constantly changing weather forecast for several weeks, it looked like the best destination would be the coast, so we decided to head down to Bandon. Bullards Beach state park’s campground was open and we doubted that it would be full. We were right.
On the way down to Bandon we heard that there was a winter storm warning for sneaker waves on Christmas Eve and that people should avoid the beaches during the day, or at least be very alert to the possibility of dangerous waves. Some folks discount them, but they are a true hazard. So much so that one of Ann’s colleagues, who grew up on the coast and knew we were out for the holidays, texted her about the warning and included an ominous “don’t take them lightly.” That evening, under cloudy skies, we scouted possible shooting locations for the following morning.
We got up early Christmas Eve and headed out to the area we had thought about photographing. From our lookout point, we saw that the tide was high, and the skies were heavily overcast. As we waited in the darkness, Ann said, “Why don’t we head down to the Redwoods!” Feeling not too sure about the conditions (both safety wise and photographically), I agreed. Face it, I have a tendency to push the edge (in this case, the water line) so the idea of sneaker waves putting me into even more trouble than I’d normally get into (which I was to find out is still the case) wasn’t a risk I was too excited about taking. So instead of shooting, we headed for an early breakfast and a couple-hour trip down Highway 101.
We had planned to scout some locations along the southern Oregon coast, we just made our trip a bit earlier in the day than we had planned, and continued on a bit farther than we had planned. Our scouting efforts were more than productive, not just for the coast, but at the Redwoods too. We stopped off at a ranger station where we got loads of advice about places to photograph (the ranger was a photographer) and which trails were worth heading down. Enough so, I think we’ve got more than enough for a photographic road trip to the area.
With that information in hand, we headed over to Howland Hill Road for a drive through the Redwoods. We made a couple of stops to photograph because the Redwoods are truly amazing.
One of the trails we’d thought about taking was packed, so we drove down a bit farther to a pull-off and walked into a grove. Ferns and trees everywhere. At one point, Ann called me over because, “I think this is your kind of thing!” It was:
We continued to the end of Howland Hill Road and then made a right-turn heading up the Sixes River where steep canyons funnel a lovely river. Yeah, we need to return some day.
We headed home, stopping for a nice Christmas Eve dinner in Brookings. For a day where we didn’t get a morning shoot, things turned out just fine.
Christmas in Bandon was Christmas - we were given plenty of gifts.
The morning started pretty gloomy, although we could see that the clouds were breaking up between when we’d woken up (all clouds, no stars) to when we started down the stairs to the beach (still lots of clouds, but also patches of stars).
Then, as seems to happen so often in Bandon, the light turned magical.
It would alternate between being pinkish, to bluish, to both at times.
And then the sun finally broke over the clouds and gave us a rainbow.
As the sun made its way up, Ann and I started working our way back to the car. It had been a couple of hours of good photography and we were starting to get hungry.
At one point Ann stopped and asked me to come over to give her some advice on a potential image. Her concern was a shadow in the foreground that she didn’t like and she wanted ideas on how to deal with it. I liked the layering of the rocks that she was looking at and I thought that there must be a way to either incorporate the shadow into the image, or possibly to wait for a wave to wash into the image and hide the stark shadow. So I set myself up to the side of a rock, talking my way through it, while Ann got up a bit on the shore side of the rock to frame her own image.
Well, I finally got my wave to wash up on the shore and, attentive person that I am, I carefully calculated that the wave wasn’t really too bad and wouldn’t go more than a foot up my leg - which was protected by my wading boots. Nothing to worry about except for the force of the wave on my leg and on the tripod. But as you well know, I'm not too bright - I’d forgotten about the rock right behind me! The wave smacked the rock and flew up the back of my pants and onto my camera bag. Oops! And my reaction to being splashed made me move my tripod, which ruined the image I was making of the water flowing up and around the rock. By the time I had made sure my gear was ok (thank God for waxed canvas!) the wave had washed backwards. Still, I re-framed my image and made a shot. At least the wet sand hid that darned shadow we were having a problem dealing with!
We got back to camp and Ann made a superb breakfast. On doctor’s orders we’ve been good about drastically reducing our intake of applewood bacon (ok, of all types of bacon - a true detriment to my quality of life), but given Christmas is Christmas, we decided that Santa wanted us to have bacon. So we did!
As we downloaded our chips to look at our images, we also took showers. It was definitely Christmas!
As early afternoon rolled around we headed back out. We started out by driving towards the end of Bullards Beach recreation area. There I saw an image in the sand dunes and climbed on top of Beast to get the image I wanted.
We then headed back to the various launch points for the different beach areas in Bandon to scout for the next day. We eventually wound up at the lookout area we’d started the day with, and Ann saw an image she wanted to make from the overlook. Eventually, I too grabbed my camera to get a different view of a sea stack.
And then, just like in the morning, Bandon gave us a Christmas light display. So we walked over towards the setting sun and made photographs as quickly as possible with whatever we could find.
From this shot you can get an idea of the rock layout that we worked with the mornings of our trip.
Then we made our way out to the point a bit and made a tighter-framed composition with the setting sun.
Yes, Bandon gave us a very Merry Christmas!
The next morning we were at it again. For once, however, a couple of other photographers beat us to the punch. Two guys were there photographing, and each had climbed out onto the rocks (despite it being high tide), with one guy on top of one of the taller sea stacks (and I thought I could be stupid trying to get the photograph!).
You can’t fault photographers working their craft even though it eliminated our options for broader landscapes, so Ann and I focused on a set of rocks between the two photographers - one to the left, the other to the right.
At first it wasn’t too bad. I started out with a broader composition with a few of the center rocks.
And then focused on a rock I’ve photographed several times under a wide variety of lighting conditions.
As I completed my shots, I walked over to Ann, who was framing a lovely beach-rocks composition, much wider than I’d first photographed, with the photographer to the right just outside her field of view. As Ann was working on getting the composition just right, I noticed another photographer approaching - a serious guy with a tripod and water boots, so he knew what he was doing. Or so I thought. He stopped about 15 feet away from Ann, looked at her, looked at where her camera was pointing - AND THEN WALKED ACROSS THE SAND RIGHT THROUGH HER IMAGE! I couldn’t believe my eyes. I wanted to shoot the jerk right then and there, toss his body into the receding tide and let the sharks have him for breakfast. Ann was pissed! Sometimes we really think there is no hope for us as a species.
And if you think that we’re over exaggerating things. About 20 minutes later the asshole did it to Ann yet again! How much does it take to detour your walk along the beach by 20 feet to avoid leaving tracks in someone else’s image? Either humans have no decency or they have no common sense or both! Talk about spoiling a perfectly fine morning!
The second time that happened I was back on the beach by the point near where we’d parked and I was looking back to make sure I knew where Ann was. I’m pretty sure I saw smoke coming out of her ears.
Anyway, the clouds were starting to roll back in and the morning light was starting to reflect from the undersides of clouds to give us deeper purples and pinks instead of the pastels of earlier in the morning. I decided to try and take advantage of it while it lasted with a rock that I think is awesome, but incredibly difficult to photograph.
And in case you’re wondering, yes, the jerk walked down and through the sand a couple of minutes after I made the shot above, while I was still working with it. I wound up having to look elsewhere for images until waves came up to wash the footprints away.
Eventually, Ann made it my way and she started photographing the rock. The photographer who had been on the rocks to the right of us, wound up walking up to us as Ann photographed. As Ann finished, he politely asked if walking around the point would interfere with her image. Ann said no and he went on his way. Ok, maybe there is some hope for humanity.
We made our way around the point as the clouds increasingly rolled in. I came across a cave with some driftwood in it and spent a while making several different images.
As I turned around, I noticed that there was an opening in the sea stack just behind me that gave an interesting glow where the water flowed through. I thought it’d make an excellent photograph if I could frame it just right and time it as the water level rose.
It took me a few minutes to determine the best location, which required me to be in an area where the waves were consistently coming up to lap over my feet and where my tripod was leaning forward onto a rock. After finally getting my positioning right, I had to change lenses to get the framing right. Just as I’d pulled out a lens and was about to swap lenses I heard the telltale sound of ocean water rushing forward. It happened to be a bit louder than the previous waves. Sure enough, water was making its way around the rock and started covering my feet. It didn’t stop. I looked around and saw that it was steadily rising. I looked at the sea stack and realized that the water at the side of the sea stack was a couple of feet higher than it usually was.
I immediately grabbed the tripod and started heading inland. I got about 15 feet from the rock when I felt a heavy pressure on the back of my legs and my feet starting to slip. So I set the tripod into the sand and simply braced myself as water came rushing forward, swamping my left leg to the knee. It was enough to just keep myself balanced, tripod in one hand, lens in the other, which I somehow managed to do. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have a waist-high sneaker wave hit you. You’d go down and then who knows what.
After the wave receded, I put the lens back in my camera bag and gave up on the shot. I tromped over to Ann with my left boot full of water and heartily agreed when she asked, “You ready to go?”
Thank goodness I always pack an extra pair of socks and pants for just this eventuality. So a quick dry off and change in Beast and we were ready to head home from a most excellent Christmas adventure!