November Weekend on the Olympic Coast
Every year I supply photographs for the promotional calendar at my day job (Robinson Noble). I try to come up with photos that match the month. November is a tough month. What kind of scene says “November”? Not only that, over the years, November is a slow photography month for me. It is usually cold and wet, not my favorite conditions for going out on a photo shoot. But, my stock of November shots (at least those worthy of being on a calendar) is getting very low. So several weeks ago, I decided I need to do a photo weekend. I decided to go to the Olympic coast, and so I reserved a 3-bedroom cottage on the beach at Pacific Beach (I needed 3 bedrooms because Tanya’s mom is staying with us for a few weeks and Tanya wanted to also invite her brother and his wife – they also brought their dog, and we brought Nahla).
I was all set for cold, rainy weather – there aren’t rain forests on the western side of the Olympic Peninsula for no reason. Yet, as our luck would have it, it was beautifully sunny all weekend. That doesn’t happen in November along the Washington coast very often. Of course, being a nature photographer, I have to complain about the weather – it’s never perfect, right? The sun made photography in the rain forest difficult because of high contrast, and the lack of clouds didn’t help the sunsets. But I think I did okay anyway, you be the judge. Are any of these photos suitable for a November slot on a calendar?
This is the Lake Quinault Lodge. This was taken in early morning, and though the whole scene was in shade, the sky was quite bright; therefore I controlled that by using HDR on this shot. The featured shot above is of Falls Creek, located just east of the lodge.
Bunch Creek Waterfall, Olympic National Park. By shooting early in the morning, this waterfall was in the shade, so no contrast problems.
Nice layers of color with this stand of trees across the Quinault River – shot in the morning before the sun had reached river level.
Here’s the Quinault River in Olympic National Park (right before the bridge, which you can see under the small patch of fog), just as the sun was starting to reach down to river level. This photo took some extra processing in Lightroom to control the contrast. The sky was very bright and the shadows dark, but with a few tweaks, it came out well I think.
The sun had yet to reach the Bunch Fields, letting me photograph this Olympic National Park scene in complete shadow.
While the shots above were taken in early morning, this was taken in mid-day – no way to keep direct sunlight out. HDR to the rescue! This is along the Maple Grove Nature Trail in Olympic National Park.
Of course, the Olympic coast features beaches as well as rain forests. Here is sunset at the appropriately named Joe Creek in Pacific Beach State Park
And back in Olympic National Park, here is Ruby Beach right before sunset.
I had fun photographing the sun shining through the waves at Ruby Beach.
Without good clouds in the sky to light up the sunset, I tried for this view of the setting sun through a small arch to give some character to the shot.
Travel Photography in Bad Light
Most of us have been there, that wonderful travel destination and the light is bad. All those pre-visulations of wonderful photos you planned to capture go right out the door. This happened to me a couple of weeks ago on a day trip to Olympic National Park. Tanya, Nahla and I headed out to Kalaloch for a day on the beach. (Aside for dog owners: Kalaloch is a great place to take your dog. Most national parks, and Olympic National Park is no exception, do not allow dogs outside of campgrounds or parking lots, let alone on trails. We got scolded by a ranger once for having our dog on a snowbank at the edge of a parking lot at Mount Rainier National Park. But, Ruby Beach and the other beaches at Kalaloch are a different story. Leashed dogs are allowed on the beaches. It is great!)
If the weather is nice, the beaches at Kalaloch are a great place for a bit of photography. But the weather on the coast can be unpredictable, so I had a backup plan. If it was overcast on the coast, we’d go to the Hoh rainforest (Nahla would have to stay in the car, but such is the sacrifice of a photographer’s dog). Because of the huge contrast in the rainforest on sunny days, photography there is best on overcast days (and even better with a little rain making everything wet).
As it turned out, it was overcast on the beach. We took a nice walk, and Nahla took a dip in the waves, but the camera stayed in the bag. So we headed over to the Hoh, about a 45-minute drive from Kalaloch. Unfortunately for my photography, once we got away from the coast, the weather turned mostly sunny. And indeed, the contrast in the rainforest was extreme (5 stops or more). My visions of wonderful shots of green moss-draped trees was not to be fulfilled.
Instead, I worked mostly on detail shots, taking what the conditions allowed. Looking for small scenes that were mostly in shadow, or mostly in sunshine, so that contrast was less of an issue. Or I looked for backlit scenes, where the sunlight provided unique views for the rainforest. I can’t say I came away with any prize winners, but I was happy with a few of the results posted below.
I still had hope for a great shot. I figured the clouds would break along the coast, and a good sunset was possible. We drove back to Kalaloch and ate dinner (during which was probably the best light of the day) and afterward drove to Ruby Beach for sunset. As it turned out, the sunset was mostly a dud, and though I took a lot of frames, I’m not that pleased with them.
So once again, I took what was offered. In this case, shooting after sunset in the blue hour. The featured photo above was shot perhaps half an hour after sunset and is my favorite of the day.
The adventure of travel photography is that you never know exactly what you will get. When conditions are not right, you need to be able to see beyond the obvious shots and look with images that the conditions allow. With luck, even with bad light, you will get a few keepers.
Though this image includes both sunlit and shadow areas, I was able to handle the contrast in Lightroom because I wanted the shadow areas to be dark. However, I did have to tone down the highlights a lot making them a bit too dull.
This moss in the shade made a good subject without having to worry about blown highlights.
This image does have small areas of bright sky and sunlit moss, but not much. The image works for the most part, though I did have to tone down the upper right hand corner excessively.
A small forest detail in complete shade. Subjects like this work great on bright sunny days in the forest.
Another small detail completely in the shade.
Luckily the sunlit area in the background doesn’t ruin this image of a group of youth whose leader was making them have a moment of silence in the Hall of Mosses.
At Ruby Beach, the sunset to the west was boring, but looking away to the south along the beach brought a nice scene.
This image is looking directly at the sunset. The color version is not very exciting. So, if the sunset is boring, try taking color out of the equation.
Out of the Smoke and into the Fog
Seattle, widely known for its rain, has had 0.03 inches of rain so far this September. Combined with no measurable rain in August, we’ve had one of the driest periods on record. Nor is rain falling much elsewhere in Washington State. All month-long there have been forest fires burning in the mountains and eastern Washington, and the smoke is really messing up the air quality. So when I took a day off to go do some photography earlier this month, I decided against going to the mountains which are full of smoke and instead Tanya, Carson and I headed for the beach. We decided to head for Kalaloch and Ruby Beach in Olympic National Park, a 3-hour drive from Tacoma. It’s 156 miles from my house to Kalaloch, and only the last 5 miles is along the ocean. And when making the drive over, it was sunny and the closer to the coast we got, the less smokey the air was. Then, at approximately mile 151 from my house, we entered a fog bank. That’s right, all this sun all over the whole state, and the beaches along the Olympic coast were fogged in. The good news for photography – no boring totally blue skies. The bad news for photography – no great sunset shots either.
We spent the first part of our trip at Ruby Beach, which has some nice sea stacks and a creek on the beach. The fog made for some interesting compositions, and several other photographers also had their tripods out. We walked north on the beach. The fog closed in around us, and it was if we were alone in the world, just the ocean on one side and a wilderness forest on the other. No sounds but the crashing waves. Hunger eventually drove us back to the car and we headed back down the highway to find a viewpoint where we could eat a picnic dinner with a view, or as much of one as the fog would allow.
It was nearing sunset, and the fog bank started to roll off shore such that it wasn’t actually fogging on the beach, but the fog still blocked the sun. Ever optimistic and still hoping for a good sunset, we stopped in at Beach 4 (which is between Kalaloch and Ruby Beach). No luck on the sunset, but as it was shortly after low time, there were tide pools to explore and starfish to photograph.
All in all, it was a good day, and I didn’t have to worry about forest fire smoke ruining my photographs. Given the choice of smoke or fog, I was happy to have the fog.
The view where the trail from the parking lot comes out at Ruby Beach. The whole state of Washington is sunny except within a couple hundred meters of the Pacific Ocean.
View of the forest above Ruby Beach
Mouth of Cedar Creek at Ruby Beach
Fog, cliffs, trees and driftwood at Ruby Beach
Low tide at Beach 4 as the fog bank rolls off shore near sunset
Beach 4 starfish
Incoming tide at Beach 4
July Travels
- “The Only Tree in Scotland” – July 2008, a scene captured on the Isle of Mull, Scotland
It is finally acting like summer around the Pacific Northwest. The high temperatures in Tacoma so far in July have all been over 70 degrees (though only one day was over 80). This might not see like summer temperatures for a lot of places; but it is for here, especially after the cold wet spring we had.
I’ve always thought that with summer comes traveling. I have always enjoyed traveling in the summer – both on long vacation trips and on short day trips – much more than traveling in the winter. This may stem from my childhood, when every summer my parents packed up the station wagon with us seven kids, attached the tent trailer, and headed off of a family vacation. I don’t have any extended travel plans for this summer, but do hope to make a number of short trips (starting tomorrow with a trip up to Sequim to see if the lavender fields are blooming).
In celebration of July travel, I’m posting a series of photos taken in the month of July from 2004 through 2010.
- “Running Stars” – July 2004: a tidepool on Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park
- “Carter Headquarters” – July 2005, taken in Plains, Georgia
- “Fishing with Dad” – July 2006; image from Caye Caulker, Belize
- “Wall of the West” – July 2007; a scene from Fossil, Oregon
- “Thunder by the Mountain” – July 2009; a travel shot from close to home, Mount Rainier and a thunderhead cloud captured in Tacoma, Washington
- “Adams Minis” – July 2010; miniature tree on the slopes of Mount Adams, Mount Adams Wilderness, Washington
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