Early Morning Photography

A photographer friend of mine recently did a podcast on why he gets up early to shoot landscape photos.  I completely resonated with this concept for all the same reasons, which lead me to do this post for my take on it.

Almost every year I can get away for a few days to the coast here and I always try to make it to Ruby Beach as early as possible.  Mostly it's so I can shoot wide shots without people in them but the air is cleaner and often there's a lovely fog rolling off.

There's a peacefulness in all this too.  What a gift to have this amazing stretch of wilderness all to myself!! 

In 2018 I got these shots about 8am.

The Annual Coast Trip

Cutting it close this year, didn't get out there till October 22, but the weather was fantastic this month so I booked my favorite condo in Mocilps.

The day I headed out there was some kind of rainstorm hitting the whole area.  It was sideways rain all the way out.  I stopped in Ocean Shores and drove out to Damon Point hoping for some shots there, but I couldn't even hold myself up it was so windy!
Aborting that idea, I got some clam chowder at Mike's, did a little shopping and then drove up to Moclips to settle in.

I was beginning to think my plan was a bust as the wind howled and the rain blew all night against the condo, but when morning came it was clear and sunny!
I was once again inspired and left early to drive up around the Quinault reservation to my favorite beaches.

About an hour and a half through fantastic tall tree forests and long, big wide rivers, the highway opens up and there's the coast!  I drove on up to Ruby first - to beat the crowd.

When I arrived at 8:30am there were already a few cars.  A gal in a cool mini cargo van was brushing her teeth, camping I presumed.  Intrigued with her rig I asked how she liked it and she showed me the inside.  Although just a cargo van, she had it rigged for camping with sleeping area and organized containers.  Made me think of my days in my old 69 VW camper bus.

I headed down to the water with only two lenses, bold move I know, but I figured I could return to the car if more were needed.

The previous days storm had left a massive amount of debris on the beach.  Not the usual "pretty" driftwood either, this was more of a collection of fresh trees, seaweed and anything else the water could catch.
The tide wasn't out very far either, so big wide shots weren't going to look near as good or even possible, except from down a ways.

Here are some of my final shots of Ruby Beach.

Next stop was Beach 4.  Probably my favorite for privacy but this day it was deserted, lol.  I was the only one there!
It's a long trek down to the beach and the previous days rain had really filled the creek that was crashing down along the trail headed out to the ocean.  What a fantastic sound!

It was a little cold and windy but the view was amazing.  I sat there on the rocks for a long time just listening to the sound of the wind.  It "rolled" down the beach with a loud roar, wow.

Here are some shots from there along with the trail.

Upon my return to Moclips I realized the conditions were perfect to finally get some shots of an old metal building I'd been admiring every time I go out there.

Many more images are available on the Fine Art Prints page here on the blog at https://jenigraybydesign.blogspot.com/p/fine-art-prints.html or go to my website at www.jenigrayphotography.com .
And as always, if you're on Instagram let's hook up @jenigray_by_design .

Finding Your Pace

I have been in a whirlwind of activity since I returned from my mini vacation out to the Washington State coast in September.  I took over 300 images on two different cameras, one film, one digital.  Shot some infrared too, on a vacant Ruby Beach!  Unheard of - unless you're there really early.

Once back home the editing began, and lasted, for over a month!  Other things to do, pesky chores like work and bathing, but once those were complete, back to the computer I went.

RAW conversions, cropping, a little exposure adjustment here, or straightening that crooked horizon there (oops!).  In the end I had about 60 images I liked, good enough for the website.

I'm proud of this collection, best work I've done in many years.  Basically organic in nature, all black and white, no HDR or over processed looking.  Just nice fine art.

Every artist goes into a project with giddy excitement, or dread, sometimes, but anticipation all the same, for a successful outcome.  They're not all masterpieces, but they are ours, our art, our creation, our heart and soul.  But it's like a bird, you've got to let it fly, release it to the world.  Some will like it, some won't.  I make it for me and for those that like it.  I don't spend any time fretting about opinions, you know what they say about those...

Along with the creation of this new collection, I have had to update some things.  Acquired a new domain name for the site I'm currently using, you can visit there anytime at www.jenigrayphotography.com .  By next year I hope to have a stand alone site with e-commerce and my own printing company, but for now I'll be using the reliable folks at Fine Art America who do everything from printing to matting to framing and ship it directly to you!  

I've also acquired a new laptop that is more current and can handle better photo editing software - soon I hope to be using Lightroom, just like the big kids!  For now I am going back and forth between two computers to make it all work.

A million other things, glitches and challenges have come up too, but I just kept going and moving forward, and staying sane.  Lots of breaks, rest and positive attitudes had to be in order for this journey.

So my lesson, and my advice, is Pace Yourself!  If it's your passion and you love it, keep doing it.

Like that line from The Pursuit of Happiness "If you have a dream, do it, period".