Arch Rock
Today was supposed to be all about shooting the Arch Rock area in the fog. I wanted to try to get what I missed yesterday. But when I reached Arch Rock, the fog was nearly all gone. There was no fog on the south side of the point, and only scattered fog on the north side. When I reached the viewpoint at 7:30, the sun was barely clearing the mountains as it lit only the top of the tree on the sea stack across the cove. My timing was nearly perfect. All I was missing was the fog. It was a beautiful morning, and I had the entire area to myself most of the time. When the sunlight hit arch rock, I could see the cormorant nests the naturalist volunteer asked us about yesterday. I want to go back and shoot the cormorant chicks while we're in the area.
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Meyers Beach
Meyers Beach is the southern terminus for our adventures out of Brookings. I parked in the large parking lot and looked for something to photograph. The lighting was good from the east, but nothing really grabbed my interest. The tide was going out, and there were very few people on the beach. Still, it was a gorgeous morning, so I enjoyed watching the waves roll in. A young couple with two young children were walking along the edge of the waves around all the formations.
Then I noticed what looked like white water coming out of one of the formations. Water coming out of a huge rock piqued my interest, so I grabbed my camera gear and hiked down to the beach. Mostly hidden among the sea stacks was a window in a turret-shaped rock that waves poured through when the largest waves hit. This little collection of sea stacks created an intimate cove with just the right mixture of water and sand to create almost perfect reflections. Over the course of an hour, I noticed the waves growing as they crashed on the rocks below "the turret." It was an ebb tide, but a large storm off-shore must have been generating the growing waves. Eventually, the waves grew large enough to warrant walking all the way back to the Explorer to get my long lens.
While I was shooting the waves and moving up and down the beach, the high clouds rolled in and it went from a bright sunny day to a gray overcast, stormy morning. The gray skies seemed to fit with the largest waves crashing on the sea stacks. I'm not sure what I'll do with two hours of waves crashing against the rocks along the beach, but it was fun shooting them.
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At 11:30, the fog and clouds were closing in, so I drove back to camp. Although we initially had high hopes for sunset, the clouds moved in and we settled for driving down to the harbor and then getting groceries.
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