The 101 South: Rugged Beauty of the Pacific Coast
Cedar Creek leads to Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park
Day 2 of the relocation road trip was all about miles. Before beginning the long trek down the 101, I spent the early morning hours at Ruby Beach. It was a quiet way to start a day that I knew would eventually be dominated by travel. I intended to drive until I got tired, but I wanted those first few hours to be spent with the sea stacks and the tide.
While I had hoped for spectacular sunrise skies with perfect clouds, sunbeams, and all the colors of the rainbow, the blanket of overcast grey seemed fitting for my last official photo outing in Washington. I loved the lush green trees and the rich browns of the driftwood, as soon as I stepped on the beach, I knew I wanted to photograph intentionally in black and white.
Even when working intentionally in black and white, a few images still call for color. This was especially true for the smaller details. Without color, you miss the incredible depth of those textures. The deep reds and oranges on the anemones and the purple barnacles were such a stark, beautiful contrast to the smooth grey of the water-worn logs that I knew I had to switch back to color to capture it.
Stopping at overlooks to stretch my legs and have a picnic lunch, I chose to skip the beautiful beaches and towns of the northern Oregon coast because they were areas I had visited before. While I would have loved to explore the shores of Cannon Beach again, I had to be selective in my stops. I settled for these higher views instead, finding wonder in the way the 101 hugs the cliffs and reveals the ocean at every turn.
Newport, Oregon was my final stop for the night, mostly because I wanted to enjoy a meal of fresh Dungeness crab. I found a great restaurant called Local Ocean Seafoods across from the marina and had a beautiful salad of local organic greens and radishes to go with half a crab. After dinner, I took a few minutes to capture the blue hour glow on the docks. These were my last shots of the day before sleep finally caught up with me.
This post is part of a series documenting my move to Northern California. Read about Day 1 of the journey here: Olympic National Park: The First Stop on the Move to Silicon Valley
