Boiler Bay Point

A hundred mile drive southwest of Portland is Boiler Bay State Scenic Viewpoint, one of many places that lets you really drink in the rugged Northwest Pacific coast. It's a great place to watch birds and whales. For me, however, the big attraction are the waves. Something about the way the landscape is arranged causes a wild variety of intense wave action. Because of this, I make a point to stop here almost every time I drive by on US-101. Last Friday was no exception.

The way the viewpoint is oriented, you can watch the waves crashing through the bay from the side. On this particular visit, I took advantage of this and pulled out my 300mm lens, mounted it on my tripod, and made some closeup shots. I've long wanted to try this particular shot and this was the first time I've been here with the big bad 300mm with me. It was perfect for the task.

I ended up staying at the park for a few hours so that I could watch sunset and enjoy the ocean waves for a while. Right after sunset on my way back to the car, I saw a lovely reflection in a pool of water in the parking lot. I sat down on the sidewalk and propped my camera up on the curb to work the scene.

As I took this shot, hunched down with bracing my camera against the concrete curb, quite a few people wandered by. Several of them wondered out loud what the crazy photographer was taking a picture of. Somehow, I bet they'd be surprised to see the result.