Articles, reviews and tutorials about photography

A landscape photographer's tour
Cape Kiwanda, OR

Keith's travels in California and the Pacific Northwest - April-May 2007

This photo-diary covers a driving trip up the coast from San Francisco in April/May 2007 along the Pacific highway

Now I've returned, I've included some of my travel photography from this trip in the main Gallery, and updated any info that may be of help to people who come across these pages as part of their planning for driving tours of the California and Oregon coasts, looking for places to stay or sites to visit.

It's a great place for a vacation, or just a road trip up the Pacific coast to photograph some of the scenery. If you've any questions about the hotels/inns/motels where I stayed, then please do feel free to drop me a line.

There are other photo travel diaries covering trips to:
Washington and Oregon in Fall 2007 and Colorado in Spring 2006 and Fall 2008

Daily pages

Why not create your own customised A3 size wall calendar from some of Keith Cooper's photographs. Choose your own images for your own custom printed calendar - 12 months starting any month of the year. Choose from nearly a hundred images - many not yet in our main gallery.

Today's the day I don't drive anywhere...

So I went for a walk along the beach.

The weather has improved over yesterday

cape kiwnda beach

The beach does look nice and empty in that shot.

There are quite a few people in it - here in the 'Land of the Vast', it seems Saturday morning is time to take your small dog for a walk on the beach.

land of the vast - walking their dogs

No-one seems to take big dogs to the beach.

I decided to go to the top of the big sand dune, and then thought better of it

hill of sand

To think that last time I was here, my friend Alistair actually ran all the way to the top...

One of the things I like about the quality of the light on the coast, is the haze and mist you get from the cold water and the surf (Note also person with dogs on strings)

beach mist - cape kiwanda, oregon

At last a decent sunset is possible, this is the view from the lobby of the Inn at Cape Kiwanda (somewhere I really do like staying ;-)

inn at cape kiwanda - lobby

Here's a collection of sunset shots that have not been particularly processed. I usually wait a week or two when I get back home before going through all the pictures I've taken on a trip, to get a feel for what I want to print.

reflections - ,sunset at Cape Kiwanda, oregon

kiwanda sunset, pacific city oregon

While I was walking along the beach, a flock of small birds zoomed along the beach, stopping every so often

flock of birds on the beach, Pacific city, oregon

And the last bit of light...

final light, cape Kiwanda, oregon

A bit different from my last visit in 2004 (examples from the Gallery)

sunset by Haystack rock, pacific city, oregon Haystack rock - Sunset , pacific city, oregon sunset at Haystack rock, cape Kiwanda, oregon

The middle image was printed as a 60 inch high print for my exhibition at the RAC in Leicester.

The Pelican Pub and Brewery that's just over the road from where I'm staying does real ale...

beer pump

pint of beerNow this may look like a pint, but don't be fooled. This is an 'American' pint, or 16 fluid ounces :-)

Pint of beer

Here's the brewing area...

brewing euipment

It's a pretty busy place, even in the 'quiet' times of the year

pelican brewery

This is however the land of wearing hats indoors

men wearing hats

Afterwards I popped out onto the beach to see the moon and a beach party fire

cape kiwanda at night

The camera was standing on a log, so the horizon isn't quite level ;-)

Then I went over to the fire and had a chat with the people there.

Nice thing over here is you can just wander up and people just chat - not always that friendly back in the UK ;-)

oregon beach party

Tomorrow it's back to heading north...

NEXT DAY

19th April >> 20th April >> 21st April >> 22nd April >> 23rd April >> 24th April >> 25th April >> 26th April>>27h April>>28th April>>29th April>>30th April>>1st May>>2nd May>>3rd May