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.

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

So I went for a walk along the beach.

The weather has improved over yesterday.

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.

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

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)

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 ;-)

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.

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

And the last bit of light...

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

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...

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

Here's the brewing area...

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

This is however the land of wearing hats indoors

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

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 ;-)

Tomorrow it's back to heading north...

NEXT DAY