RETROSPECTS 2024 - #2 - MARITIME SUBJECTS

Port of Newport, Oregon during the Blue Hour

Already in my childhood I was fascinated by anything that had to do with boats, harbors, and coastal life. Maybe no surprise for a guy who grew up in a hilly and wooded area… Well, I still get a kick out of it and whenever there is a chance to shoot in an harbor, I have no problems to find something to aim my lens at.

The Port of Newport, Oregon was the perfect playground at different times of the day. I focussed mostly on details during the days with an overcast. Going out for dinner during the blue hour to a seafood restaurant right at the harbor provided other opportunities and walking back to the car long after sunset wasn’t without charm either.

Containers full of crabs shortly after unloaded from a boat

Maritime details are a great subject for a day with an overcast sky

The port at night with hardly any wind blowing from the Pacific Ocean

RETROSPECTS 2024 - #1 - OREGON COAST

Surf, Ecola State Park, Oregon

I know, it’s a little early to start with retrospects for 2024 already but some other projects kept me away from the camera lately. I still have been out in the Great Outdoors this weekend but sometimes we just have to let it sink in and admit that the pictures we brought home do not tell the story as we thought they would.

So here we go with a photo, created in late March, from the coast of Oregon at the Pacific Ocean. Ecola State Park has some great vistas, like the view to Tillamook Lighthouse, and watching and listening to the surf below was just great.

I used a 2 second exposure to give the surf a sense of motion but without making it a ”milky puddle”. Each image was different and the surf really dictated how the photo was perceived. This one I liked the best…

NIGHT SHOT AT THE PORT

Port of Newport, Oregon, March 29, 2024

This photo is from the same night as yesterday’s sunset image, except it was shot after dinner. Ports and harbors had always a great fascination for me and I love to watch the business around ships, boats, or on the docks.

I guess it helped a little bit having a bottle of wine with our seafood dinner to handhold the camera and make a sharp picture at 1/13 of a second 😉.  And this still required an ISO setting of 12800. A few years ago this was unthinkable with any previous camera I owned, but the technology for noise reduction we have at our hands today, while shooting and in post process, is just amazing.

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S,   @ 62mm, 1/13 s, f/4, ISO 12,800

WAY TO END A DAY

Beach after sunset, Newport, Oregon, March 29, 2024

A minute earlier a small sliver of the sun was still visible. Of course, a few clicks were made with the sun above the horizon, but it was the glow that follows I was after. The people on the beach at low tide below our apartment give the scene a sense of scale.

What followed was a short drive to a restaurant at the harbor of Newport and a dinner with fresh seafood and wine. You can’t find a better way to end a great day at the Oregon coast…

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S, GITZO tripod GT2931 Basalt, KIRK BH-3 ball head    @ 24mm, 1/100 s, f/10, ISO 100

BACK IN TIME, OREGON COAST

View from Cape Meares, Pacific Coast, Oregon

Unfortunately I didn’t spent time behind the camera last week but still like to share a photo from our trip to the Oregon coast three months ago. Fast changing weather and light make it such a great place for landscape photography. If you miss a shot, you can’t repeat it exactly the same way.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4

LUMINOSITY UNDER WATER

Pacific Sea Nettle, Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newport, OR

It’s tempting to just follow the actual time line and post only the photos that reflect what’s going on at the moment of publishing. I would follow the ”journalistic path” of the blog but many photos I create, especially those on the more artistic side, would fall under the table and never ever being shared with you.

Today’s image of a Pacific Sea Nettle is one of my favorites from our recent trip. It’s not wildlife and it was all about dealing with the circumstances of shooting through the thick glass in the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon.

I pressed the lens tightly against the glass of the aquarium and the rest was done by the lighting source of the tank above the water level. A few years ago I would never ever had dreamed about using a sensitivity of ISO 16000 for a photo. Now, with the great handling of high ISO settings in mirrorless cameras and much better noise reduction features in our software, this is just a matter of employing all these tools. Don’t take me wrong, I still believe shooting with the lowest ISO settings as possible is the best way to go for a high quality image. This time ISO 16000 allowed to expose at 1/640s at extremely low light conditions and to get this pulsating jelly fish still sharp in the frame.

A public aquarium tries to tell the story about the life under water for a certain habitat, that most of us aren’t able to see in their life time. When I take a shot like this I try to keep any men-made items out of the frame and hope to continue their story telling.

Here in Dubuque, Iowa we have the Mississippi River & Aquarium, one of the best in the country, and practicing many times before at their beautiful fish tanks made it easier to nail down the photo I can present for you today. I hope you enjoy it!

LIFE IN THE TIDE POOLS

Sea anemones

I was at a conference in Dallas, TX this week and a busy schedule prevented that time was spent behind the camera. Luckily I still have a number of pictures from our trip to the Oregon coast I like to share with you.

Clams and snails in a color reach environment

It took a few days before we had the conditions that we were looking for to explore the life and beauty in the tide pools. It needs of course a low tide at a rocky beach and the colors can be revealed if the sun shines at least a little bit. A polarizing filter in front of the lens works great for eliminating most of the glare on the water and for revealing the colors on mussels, clams, sea anemones, crabs and whatever else we found.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4, Tiffen Circular Polarizer,  @ 200mm,

Hermit Crab inside shell of a gastropod snail

Sea star left on the rocks at low tide

A NOISY BUNCH (SEE THE VIDEO)

California Sea Lions, Newport, Oregon

Back to our trip along the Pacific coast in Oregon. You have not seen Newport if you didn’t see the sea lions in the harbor. From late August through early June adult and juvenile male sea lions can be seen on the docks of the Newport harbor. The females stay in California waters all year around. During the summer months male sea lions migrate south to join the females for their breeding season. (source: information board at the Newport harbor)

You don’t need a map to find them at the harbor, just follow the barking noise. There is a constant pushing and shoving going on while competing for space on the docks. Feel free to click the video below to hear and see the noisy bunch.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4,  @ 200mm

HAYSTACK ROCK AT ANY WEATHER

Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Pacific North Coast of Oregon

The coast of Oregon is not a place that has sunshine all the time, especially at this time of the season. There were quite a few hours during our explorations and hikes along the shore when the colors were muted. But rain, fast moving clouds, and the surf on these stormy days created drama and the question I asked myself was, how can I make it visible in my photos? Seeing in black and white and envision how the final picture may look needs practice and I certainly could use some more of that.

The photo was made at low tide in the town of Cannon Beach. The iconic Haystack Rock attracts many people and it has been photographed probably several million times before. I did not go too low with my tripod because I wanted to have a bit more of the surf in the frame. To give the waves a sense of movement and keep the mist in the air visible I exposed 2 seconds at f/7.1. I tried longer and shorter times but this seemed to lead to the most harmonious results. The pattern in the sand changed quickly and it required reposition of the camera several times for some lines with reflections and shadows. Crushing waves broke frequently on this basalt sea stack and I was able to capture one of these moments. Who says you can’t make a photo on a stormy and rainy day…? 😉

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S, GITZO tripod GT2931 Basalt, KIRK BH-3 ball head,   @ 52 mm, 2 s, f/7.1, ISO 100

YAQUINA HEAD

Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Newport, Oregon

One of my favorite locations we visited at the Oregon coast last week was Yaquina Head with its lighthouse and rocky sea stacks all around. It is a great place for bird watching and offers many different angles for having some photography fun.

Colony Rock is a great habitat for thousands of seabirds. We saw Common Murres, Pelagic Cormorants, lots of Western Gulls, and some other species.

Western Gull on a rocky cliff

The lighthouse guides ships and their supplies along the west coast since the light was first lit on August 20, 1873.

View to the North Coast from Yaquina Head