I'd never been up here before. It's one of Eugene's local hikes. Just never got around to it I suppose. I needed to clear my head at the time, so I checked it out on a whim. I ended up getting a few snaps, but nothing special.
Photography Date: 8-28-16
Writing Date: 2-26-18
After a beautiful day in the valley, I made last minute planes to jet over to the coast to capture the sunset at Heceta Head beach. The drive was only an hour away so it was easy to make it to the coast on a whim and I had not been in a while either way. I found a few interesting areas on the way over, a beautiful field and an abandoned boat. The closer I got to the coast, the more my hope for a beautiful sunset faded. It's fascinating how different the weather can be just an hour away.
When I finally made it to Heceta Head, it was fogged in, this gave me the place nearly to myself and made parking easy. I'd been to this spot many times, so I quickly hit up the usual spots and tried to decide what I wanted to do because of the fog. It was the kind of fog that just made everything grey.
I then realized that after all these times to this beach, I'd never made the short hike up to the lighthouse. So with nothing left to lose, I headed up. I was immediately pleased with the fog in the trees, and the moody feel the closer I got to the lighthouse. Once there, I quickly realized the potential of the spinning light in the lighthouse and the fog for a prolonged exposure. I ran back to the car and grabbed my tripod and made my way back. I was running out of time as the park closed soon and had a locking gate.
With only 30 minutes to spend scouting and shooting, I did my best to find a shot. I must have looked like a chicken with its head cut off running around looking for the shot and trying to shoot what I could. Once I was as close as I comfortably could get to my time constraint, I headed back. I came around a corner to an opening and took one last view of the lighthouse and saw the shot I wanted. It took me a few times to get the timing right for the light beam and my long exposer, but I'm pleased with the results.
Photography Date: 8-26-16
Writing Date: 2-26-18
I couldn't sleep one morning, just tossing and turning, that's just the worst. So, I decided to make the best of it and went out for a sunrise photo shoot. I decided I wanted to get the Denver skyline for the shot. The first place I went and set up my gear I ended up getting kicked out by security. I guess I posed a security risk in their empty parking lot at 5 AM with my camera gear pointed at the city, but I followed the rules and quickly moved to another location. Unfortunately, my shot was ruined for the skyline as this new viewpoint shifted me too far north, but I decided to stay nonetheless and make the best of it. Regardless of me getting the shot I wanted, it sure beats tossing and turning in bed.
Photography Date: 8-21-16
Writing Date: 2-26-18
We went out for the short Racoon loop hike with our friends Dylan and Alexis in Golden Gate Canyon State Park, miss those guys. The walk was more about hanging out and catching up, but I still got a few snaps. Not every outing is focused photo first; sometimes it's about being out with your friends. Don't get me wrong though, if I'm on a hike; I have my camera!
Photography Date: 8-7-16
Writing Date: 2-16-18
High up in the middle of the Rocky Mountains is quite the anomaly, sand dunes. Dunes in the mountains, I knew I had to see them for myself, so my buddy and I planned a camping trip. We set out for three days and two nights into the unknown. All we knew is that we wanted to see the dunes, take pictures, and camp. Up an old winding dirt and gravel road that was rough enough to bounce mufflers and fillings out, was our campsite at Zapata Falls.
Being late July, it was hot. So after setting up camp, we decided to check out the falls and cool off in the mist. The game plan was to run into the small nearby town for a few missed supplies and watch the sunset from camp as we were a good way up the east side of the valley. It didn't take long for us to start hating the road up to our camp. Sunset came right as we got our campfire going. It had to be one of my top favorite sunsets.
That evening a storm rolled in on the eastern side of the mountain. With the storm came thunder and lighting. Luckily it made for great pictures and not bad weather. The next morning was overcast but dry from the storm. This was quite the relief, but it didn't stick around for long. We explored a bit on our way to the dunes finding an abandoned house that had the most ominous crows I've seen.
We tried to do some "off the road" exploring on some sandy roads, but nearly getting stuck in deep soft sand changed our minds about that pretty quick. The central dune area was very crowded and hot, so we decided to explore the creek. It didn't take long for it to dry out and go underground, but every corner promised a discovery. We ended up chasing some deer saw and were following their tracks, but ended up not seeing them again. At our stopping point, we dug into the dry creek bed and found flowing water not too deep. After a quick drink, we headed back.
To be honest, we were both feeling a bit bummed from the day's adventures. It wasn't what we were hoping for, and I think we were burnt out from bringing in the sun all day. We made our way back to camp feeling a little defeated. I think all we needed was to let go of our expectations, get some rest, grab a bite and some water; we felt much better. I think we were placing high expectations on ourselves on what photos we wanted to come away with. So we did our best to let go and head back to the dunes, but to a different unpopulated area for the golden hour. Holy cow was that the ticket. As soon as we let go, that's when we found what we were looking for.
The next morning we took it easy. We slept in, made coffee and breakfast burritos and just relaxed on our last morning at camp. After cleaning up and thoroughly putting out our campfire, we hit the road for our way back home. We stopped at a few places that caught our attention on the way over. One of these places was an Alien UFO lookout tower. Pretty cool.
Photography Date: 7-31-16
Writing Date: 2-26-18
