The beauty of the PNW is within a day's trip from anywhere and in any direction. At 11:30am on a Sunday morning, I got a call from some photographer friends, Jenny Grand, Rob and Tina Arnold. They had an itching to go to the coast for sunset pictures. From Seattle to Ruby Beach, it's only a 3 hour and 15 minute drive so of course I'm game. But I had to get on the road ASAP since the sun would be setting at 4:55 pm.
Most of my gear is always ready to go. Just need to snag batteries off the wall and I'm ready to shoot.
We met in Olympia and headed west together, catching up on Christmas and discussing future photography adventures.
The sky was pretty clear with a few high clouds, good ingredients for a nice sunset. But the weather does weird things here on the edge of the continent. You never know what you are going to get as it can all change in the last 15 minutes leading up to sunset. As we got closer, more and more clouds gathered on the horizon.
We arrived at about 4:10 and began to gear up, rubber boots, rain jackets, water proof pants, warm layers, gloves, and of course cameras.
The trail is super short and leads right to the water. Downed pine trees line the shore. Beyond that are a few small sea stacks and off to the right is one mammoth one.
The cloud situation was starting to turn against us. There looked to be a dense marine layer right at the horizon that could blot out the sun and kill the color we where hoping for. But you can never tell until the sun reaches it.
On the beach we had to cross a small stream. The rubber boots keep our feet dry, but if the tide comes in, we could be stuck on the other side. We will have to keep an eye on that so I stuck a couple sticks in the ground to mark the tide.
I pulled out my camera and started looking for interesting shots. This one tree really drew my attention. It had fallen from the cliff above and laid smashed against the bluff in an interesting way.
This was an exciting subject because as I walked around it, it changed in so many ways. In this shot, I put on my wide angle lens. It makes objects closer to you big and objects further way very small. These rocks are only a few inches across, but the tree in the background is huge, at least 4 feet in width.
Done with the tree I turned my attention to the setting sun. You can see that there is little color in the sky. In this shot, fellow photographer Jenny Grand is getting some some snaps in.
It was a night to work on fundamentals and practice techniques I've learned. This photo violates a fundamental rule, which I won't bore you with, but in this case it works.
As the light started to fade, I went in search of a simpler scene, less colors so less complexity. I would have preferred a smaller rock, but you work with what you have.
This is the beauty that surrounds you at Ruby Beach.
Thanks Rob for being our Logistics and Operations Chief!