Category: Bry Cox Photography Blog

Well, my Portland job is finished. It went really well. I fly home today and should have flown out a while ago, but I got bumped and am waiting now at the Portland airport for my next flight.

One thing I’ve always liked about the PDX airport is that it is one of the few airports that has free and working WiFi. That is a nice service for sure, so today I’m taking advantage of that and thought I’d put up a few more images from my coastal road trip I took earlier this week.

This image above I created on my long walk up to the Heceta lighthouse (on Day 2).  It was such a serene moment to come around the path and have it open up to this scene!

This image was taken from the lighthouse looking down.  The mountain in the distance is where I photographed the lighthouse during the day time on Day 3 from a distance along with the image of myself.

Here is a pano of the lighthouse before the sun set that night.

And earlier that day I photographed an entirely different lighthouse on the way to Heceta.  This lighthouse is called Yaquina and I used my friend Bryan Welsh’s long lens to get this from a distant beach. 

Well I’m getting tired of sitting here in the airport and need to walk around, stretch and maybe get some food.  I hope you all like these images.  I know I had a great time creating them and am very excited to see them printed.

Until next time, America!
— Bry

Yesterday was day three of my Oregon Coast Photo Safari.  When I’m on a photo safari, for some strange reason I think it’s fun find and stay in some classic motels…that are clean of course.  This is the motel where I stayed between day 2 and 3 on the safari.  It was in a small coastal town right across the street from the place where I ate dinner.  And yes, it was clean and cheap and the biggest thing that impressed me was the fact that they still used real keys instead of swipe cards.

So after checking out, I headed back north, taking the slow and scenic way to Portland, and found a little meandering road called Mercer on the way.  That’s where I got this panorama.

Because only locals drive the road and they all know each other, I had a few local people stop and watch me to make sure I didn’t need any help or to see what I was up to.  I loved this scene.  The trees are fantastic!

From there I continued more north passing the lighhouse again and this time stop and created some images from a distance rather than up close.

I like this angle because it shows the cliffs below the lighthouse.  Such a great location.  This was right off the road and didn’t require any hiking, so other cars were pulling off too to look.  After setting up my equipment, I found someone to take a photo with me in it.  I never get any photos of me when I’m on a trip, so this is a real treat!

I got into Portland by early evening yesterday and began working all day today.  I work again most of the day tomorrow too, and then I’m done here. 

Here in Portland, because I’m working, I was put up in a very nice hotel.  I’ve stayed in a lot of nice hotels, but this has to be one of the biggest rooms I’ve ever had.  It is the size of a three room apartment and I love it.  It’s so nice to stay in a nice place after staying in a cheap place the night before.  The contrast really makes me appreciate companies like this that put time and effort into creating an atmosphere of good taste, and style, that is beautiful and comfortable to live in.

Ok, well I’ve got to go prepare for tomorrow.  I’ll get more images up when I get a minute.  Until next time, America!
— Bry

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

I’m out in Oregon for a job I have coming up in a few days, but I came out early to take a road trip down one of my favorite roads in the country…the Oregon coast. Here are some images I created today.

I love this!  This building is will be 100 years old next year.  I had a nice talk with the care-keeper today while photographing it.

This is overlooking Haystack rock in the distance.  The next image shows Haystack better.

Some nice waves almost got me while creating this image.

I’ve had a great day and had a lot of fun seeing some of these places again.  It is so pretty out here!  Tomorrow I’ll be heading south and working my way further down the coast.  I’m planning to arrive at my favorite lighthouse late in the day so that the sun will be in the perfect spot to make the lighthouse look spectacular.

If I can get a hotel with reliable internet tomorrow night, then I’ll get some images of this lighthouse up.

So until tomorrow, America!
— Bry

Here’s the order I’ve been working on today.  It’s for Dan, a missionary who’s getting ready to head out to Colombia, South America for two years.  Below is the composite I created for him.  I love how it shows different personalities and feelings, and will be a great piece for his family to enjoy at while he’s gone.

And here is a treo I created for him too.  Three images of Dan in his suit and his scriptures.

A couple years ago I photographed Dan’s brother for his missionary portraits, and now Dan is going out for his mission.  It is a great thing that he’s doing and I wish him much success.

Until next time, America!
–Bry