First Day at the Beach July 7, 2009

This next series of posts is from a recent family vacation to Oregon. The purpose was not to take photographs but to have fun as a family. I still did made time to take a few photo sessions and I think I got a few good ones.

Before I show you all my photos I do want to briefly digress and discuss equipment. As I often do, I took more than I used. I guess it is better to have it and not need it than to need it and NOT have it, but I am not convinced.

What I am convinced of is this: My Sigma 17-70 is a GREAT all around zoom, I doubt I will ever get rid of it unless something comes along that is A) Weather Sealed B) Better zoom range & C) is faster and has better Image Quality. Those three things are going to be tough to find. The other thing I am convinced of is that a lightweight/reasonable sized telephoto zoom is a must have for traveling. I was given a Cosmicar 70-200 f4 manual focus zoom by a friend shortly before leaving. It is actually a fairly stellar performer for being a 20+ year old budget zoom without the modern Pentax multicoating (SMC) that seems to really do a good job. My only difficulty with the zoom is that it has a greenish cast, meaning everything is slightly green especially in more dimly lit/underexposed settings. It can be fixed but it is another step to slow down processing of photos. All of which has convinced me that saving for the Pentax DA 55-300 f4-5.8 lens is my best option for my budget. I think that would have been a killer lens for my zoo trip. Not being sealed it would have been less helpful at the beach and probably would have sucked in a lot of dust and sand, but still useful. Anyway, on with the show.

As soon as we reached the Oregon coast we went north to Gearhart, OR checked in and unpacked the van. Then we headed for the beach, which was literally 2-300 yards away from our front door, and visible from our porch. It was a glorious afternoon with beautiful sky. Here are a couple of quick shots taken at that point.

Looking southwest past Seaside, get used to looking at that headland I tried hard to capture it in all it's different phases.

Abandoned crab shells littered the beach, I thought it made an interesting foreground, this was the first time I felt that live view with a tilting screen would be a nice addition to my camera. Not sure that I will ever feel that again though. (Sigma 17-70)

This is/was our view while eating dinner at MO's in Canon Beach, definitely worth the time to stop and eat the clam chowder if you are passing through... or anywhere close for that matter. (Cosmicar 70-200)

Beachwalkers just down from our parking area at MO's. (Cosmicar 70-200)

Sunset June 8, 2009 Gearhart Oregon

Cosmicar 70-200, Tripod and wired release.

I never really captured this headland as I really wanted to. This is close, I stopped down to f32 and exposed for 1s to blur the waves. I find myself wishing I had used a higher vantage point to get more wave blur action in the frame. I do like this shot though.

Actually a HDR here taken with the Sigma 17-70. This is not the crazy HDR kind of shot but the kind that helps to keep from blowing highlights. Subtle you would call it.

Thursday Night at the Beach Gearhart, OR (07/09/2009)

This was (I think) the best sunset night we had, I had been getting the kids ready for bed and didn't think sunset was as close as it was, I finished and glanced out to see that the sun was nearly to the horizon. So I grabbed my trusty Sigma 17-70 and my Cosmicar 70-200 and ran, sprinted really, down to the beach. I'm really glad we were close by. I managed to get down onto the dunes before the sun slipped below the horizon, and even better without falling and putting my camera into the sand. Which would have been lens first with my luck!

I have been wanting to find a bench to get a good picture of for a thread the appears every so often on DPReview. It is called a "Lonely Bench" Thread. There are several of these benches in the area of Gearhart.

Going under!

Last gasp here!

Textures and Light

Headland to the south with Cosmicar likely at 200mm.

Party on the beach. (Also with Cosmicar)

Remains of the day.

Lonely walker.

Don't forget to turn around.

Immensity.

Just two from the Family Picnic in the Park

Went to Rood Bridge Park for a family get together as part of my Wifes 20 year High School reunion. Wandered off from kind shooting responsibilities (Photo's not.... Honestly what are you thinking?) and I found another example of my favorite kind of flower. Red. I don't know why but I love a nice red flower.

Sunday Afternoon Flowers

I had a wonderful chance to relax and take a few shots at my Brother and Sister-In-Law's neighbors flower garden on Sunday. It was overcast and headed towards rain, but not while I was outside. This always seems to give me the best chance to get nice vivid colors without harsh shadows from sunlight (Which = more keepers, something I really like!). I enjoyed it greatly and got a few pretty good shots. I really think that one day I will need to get a dedicated Macro lens. (Sigma 105 f2.8 or Pentax D-FA 100 f2.8 are currently my two favorites.)


I LOVE the colors of this flower.

Not sure what this is but it is kinda cool looking!

I'm iffy about including this one but there is just a delicate luminance to it that I really like.

The color combo on this one works for me.

This one too!

I really wish I would have put the camera on a tripod for this one for increased depth of field without blurriness from too slow of a shutter speed. Do still like what I got though!

I thought the Table and chairs in the garden were a nice touch.

This has a nice abstract shape to it.

Food Interlude

Though pretty much everything on my blog is geared towards photography I wanted to include this little side trip we took to the Stepping Stone Cafe in NW Portland. At times my wife and I have been watchers of a TV show called Man vs. Food, where the host takes on some eating challenges and reviews interesting places to eat. We saw this place included in the show one night and decided to include it in our ininerary for our trip.

This particular restauraunt serves an interesting meal, a 3 pancake stack called "Mancakes" which you will see is quite...... LARGE!!! I had hopes of eating 2 of the 3 and not being totally ashamed of my unamerican inability to gobble superlarge amounts of food. Alas I could only eat one. Again these things are huge. Anyway, had a nice visit and a little fun.

Whoa!

Where is the plate?? Notice the French Toast next to the pancake stack for comparison.

The wall of Shame