Oregon Lighthouse Photo Safari, Day 2

I made it just as planned to my favorite lighthouse at exactly when I wanted to arrive, just as the sun was beginning to set.  This is one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world and I’ve won some great awards myself with images of this lighthouse that I created some years ago.  It is called Heceta Head, and pretty much every art book on lighthouses has Haceta Head on the cover.  

Aside from the lighthouse itself, the location is absolutely gorgeous and serene.  It puts me in an introspective and creative mood just being there.  The air was perfect and fresh and I loved the sound of the very large waves crashing into the rocks below us.

I created a lot of images here tonight, but here are just two for now.

The lighthouse is about a 1/2 mile hike from the parking area.  Once reaching the lighthouse, I hurried to make this image just before the sun dropped below some clouds on the horizon.

Once the sun had dropped out completely, I created this image with the help of a photographer friend of mine, Bryan Welsh (MIT Studio) who came along with me.  He helped me paint the side of the building with a flash during a long 30 second exposure, a technique called “painting with flash.”  It came about once the sun had dropped out and in trying to figure out how to get the twilight image I wanted, found out that he had two hand-held flashes in his bag.

Painting with flash means that while the camera is on a tripod and open, we run around in the frame flashing the areas we want lit.  The flashes have to be in the right locations and at the right settings, and you have to constantly run to avoid ending up in the photograph yourself.  A very fun way to make a photograph!  🙂  I think we were laughing after every 30 second exposure.

There are more images from this location, and hopefully soon I’ll get some more up on the blog.

Today was such a fun day.  I loved driving down the coast, seeing small towns, eating in fun little diners, hanging out with my friend Bryan, and photographing this lighthouse.  This particular lighthouse was the main reason I wanted to come back out to the coast on this trip and I think I got some great images.

Well that’s it for tonight.  I should get to bed now.  Until next time, America!
— Bry