Chapter 8 - A Rather Blustery Day

"... then I think I shall wish everyone a Happy Winds-Day."

Thanks to Walt Disney and A.A. Milne

And so, to you, I shall wish a Happy Winds-Day, too.

For it was a rather blustery day here along the Central Coast of Oregon, a place not as magical as The Hundred-Acre Woods but equally as beautiful and, thankfully, much easier to get to.

Unfortunately, this Winds-Day (on a Saturday I should point out) was the day I had intended to jump back into the Oregon Central Coast Photography Meet-Up group. Oh, whack-a-doodle, the Fates weren't cooperating on Ol' Smilin' Jack today.

It was an ugly morning but the promise was that the weather would break and the rain would stop around 1100 in the morning and, conveniently, that was the time the Meet-Up was suppose to begin. So with this promise of a break, we set off looking forward to getting out and seeing what we could see. 

Carol had her binoculars and was ready to look in on the birds and I had my cameras and was ready to see, and photograph, what I could.

Ah, but "the best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley."

Today was one of those days meant to aft a-gley. All over the place.

We were nearing Taft in a misty drizzle, a mizzile if you'd rather. Motoring along, just covering the miles between here and there when, BAM!! it was like someone had slapped the front windshield with a huge dead fish!!

Seriously, it was startling how hard and how sudden the rain came down and, right on its heels, came the heavy, hard wind!! It was blowing so doggone hard I could feel the Faithful Mini rocking side-to-side on her wheels.

And it didn't let up. All the way down to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse, where the Meet-Up was, uh, well, meeting up at. The wind blew and the Mini shook and the trees waved and the rain came slamming down.

But, ever the optimist, I was counting on the storm easing up and, pun intended, blowing away around 1100. I was counting on it. I was hoping...

The rain let up but the wind, oh that wind kept on a-comin'. Boy, howdy, did it keep on a-comin'.  When I got out of the Mini I did something I rarely ever do ... I turned my cap around backwards. I think it's the height of stupidity to wear a cap with a bill backwards. Don't look good and it doesn't speak well about your intelligence, either. 

But I turned that Bad Boy around to make sure it didn't get blown off my head. Honestly, if my cap flew off it would have been the last contact I ever had with it. The wind was blowing so doggone hard it would have been across the parking lot and over the cliff on the other side with 10-15 seconds. It was a-blowin', y'all.

We were a bit early and after a couple minutes, Arjen, the guy that runs the Meet-up, arrived. We talked for a minute and I told him I had errands to run in Newport and so I was leaving, too windy, and I would be back in about an hour and see if the wind let up a bit.

Got the errands done and came on back. The only thing that had changed was the hands on the clock. That wind was still doing its best impression of a rather blustery day. There were times when I had to lean into the wind it was pushing so hard. And, as anyone who knows me can truthfully attest, I ain't no lightweight.

But, doggone it, I had come all that way to take a couple of pictures and so, brave fellow that I am, I set off to grab a few. 

It was not a day that contributed to taking good pictures. Not at all. Course, it'd help if I had the controls set correctly on the doggone camera before I started shooting. Hahaha, evidently I am a slow learner. After all this time and ALL those errors you'd think I would have learned to check the controls before I started shooting. No, not me.

Which is a long way of explaining this sepia-toned picture. I had been shooting in a low-light situation previously and had used the Exposure Compensation control to try and grab some more light and ... duh, hadn't changed it back.

When I was shooting the first few frames, I was puzzled why the image was so doggone light, washed out, in the viewfinder. Then the lightbulb came on and I slapped my forehead like that guy that realizes he "coulda had a V8!!"

So, here's what happens when your Exposure Compensation is jacked up by a third and you're shooting on a gray, dismal day towards a break in the sun.

And, like a lot of my 'accidents', I like it. Maybe, someday, I'll play around with the sepia in my iPhoto thingie. Maybe. Just not today.

You've been warned.

I was still in the parking lot when I got the picture above and then this one below. See!! Photography doesn't take a lot of effort. Hahaha, it is, at times, custom made for a lazy doofus like me. In fact, the only person I know lazier than me is the guy who named the "fireplace." Now that guy is the King of the Lazys.

I never get tired of shooting this Lighthouse. Ok, I admit, there's only so many times you should take the same picture of  something but, well, I keep hoping I'll get that one-in-million shot that makes all these other loser shots worthwhile. I told you I was an optimist ... it's a belief that no matter my dismal track record of endless mediocre pictures there's always that outside chance I just might take a really good one someday.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man

We'll get back to the lighthouse in a while. Let's see what the beach is like. Well, as much as you can tell from this picture. Looking south from the bluffs overlooking the small cove where the tide pools are. That was our goal today, to shoot the tide pools. 

Low tide was around 1100 and we were suppose to be able to wander on out among those rocks and grab us a couple shots of the denizens of the tide. Suppose to.

Reality was a storm surge and a low tide of about 1-2 feet. Reality was not a tide pool was in sight.

Sometimes reality sucks.

And, to illustrate how hard it was a-blowin' on this blustery Winds-Day, I'm up on the bluff, maybe 80-100 feet above the shore. And my camera lens is picking up droplets of water being blown up the bluff. I was wondering why I couldn't get a focus and ... I finally looked at the front of my lens. Question answered.

ARGH!! Frustrating!! And my handkerchief wasn't doing the job getting the moisture off. I had several nice pictures of the droplets on my lens throughout the day. Several.

Ahhhhh, this is better ... marginally. This is Cobble Beach  and it is covered with black, volcanic rock that has been tumbled by the waves. Now the rocks protect the cove from erosion. 

They were several feet deep. 

This was taken about 1230 as the sun passed over us towards the south. The position of the sun blasted out part of the scene because of the direct sunlight and the reflection off the ocean.

I was walking down the 2-3 million steps to the beach. OK, maybe not that many, although, when I was hiking back up them it seemed there were that many. Maybe there were only around 120 steps. Might as well have been a million for me.

They have, thoughtfully, placed small landings or, as I call them, Resting Spots, along the steps and I logically stopped at each and everyone of them ... and, as my excuse for stopping to rest, I took a picture at each one. Hey!! To another person it looks reasonable. 

I caught this one after I had put my camera into a Continuous Shooting mode. See!! Sometimes I do think. I wanted to capture the power of the waves hitting the shore. When I do it single-shot, I usually press the shutter at the peak of action which means ... most of my pictures are a milli-second too late. I get the scene right after the action peaked.

So I shot continuous and got the wave plus a bonus gull thrown in for good measure.

Alright. This was an interesting angle. Lately I have been trying to think in terms of f-stop and shutter speed to try and influence my pictures and, wishfully, get a better picture. 

Not today. Hah!! Today was all about not losing my cap and not being blown over. Oh, and keeping the camera semi-dry from the damp spray going every-doggone-where.

I was still on the steps and still drying off the lens as best I could when I got the bright idea to blow on the lens so I could wipe it off. I know, what was I thinking. Blowing on a camp lens to help clean it off. Duh.

But then I thought why not try a frosted lens shot and got this. Not fantastic but, and you can take this to the bank, you'll probably, maybe, likely, might see me try this effect again...and again...and again.

You've been warned.

When I finally got to the bottom of the (seemingly) never-ending-stairs, I met this fine fellow. His job is to be pleasant to tired old men who want someone to gripe at after negotiating more steps than they should have.

He does his job well.

We struck up a good conversation. This earnest young man assured me that I could see harbor seals right there in that small cove. Having been there maybe six or seven times before, I knew what he said was true, but I doubted that I would see any today. I didn't argue with him as he seemed almost eager to give me some pleasant hope after my exhausting journey down the Stairs of Death. I didn't see any seals.

And then I asked him, for blog purposes, what his name was. At first I thought he said "Box" and I was, naturally, intrigued. Not trusting my ears, I demanded he show me his name tag and, obliging fellow he is, he did.

And, this is what I saw ...

... his name!!

Yeah, how cool is that!?!

Of course I was rude enough to ask how this came about and he told me. In his younger days (What!?! A week or two ago, you young squirt) he thought he had gotten his name because of his red hair (and now you know why he has his hat off in the picture above). Unfortunately, this touching story only existed in his mind.

When he finally asked, his folks told him he got his name from some folks they'd known back in the Old Home Town whose last name was Fox. They liked it and the rest is history.

He did admit to getting a lot of flak for this name but also pointed out as he ages, it becomes more of an asset in meeting people (aka girls) easily.

Haha, you rock, Fox.

I was down the beach a ways and caught him diligently performing his duties with this long shot.

I spy with my little eye ...

Finally, down on the beach, at low tide. 

A beach with a lot of wind and a lot of rocks.

And these egg sized rocks make for some very unsteady walking. There was a small slope of them I had to traverse and, well, I did it gingerly. 

I had asked young Fox if he was capable of carrying me all the way up those stairs if I fell and injured myself. He assured me that he would make sure, one way or the other, that I got up the bluff. I think, but I'm not sure, he said something about one big-ass helicopter needing a large winch. 

Two different shots of the same subject but one is done in 'mono' and the other in 'noir' from the iPhoto program. The former gives the picture an overall B&W color while the former renders it in deeper tones of gray and black.

I like the 'noir' effect.

Fun Facts: Noir is the French word for black. I imagine that the folks at Apple used that term to bring to mind the Film Noir movies.

Film Noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasized cynical attitudes and sex. 

Hollywood's classical Film Noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early '40s to the late '50s. Film Noir of this era is associated with low-keyblack-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Ah, those Germans.

Many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Great Depression.

The term Film Noir, French for "black film", was first used to describe a Hollywood film by French critic Nino Frank in 1946. The genre was unrecognized by most American film industry professionals of that era. Cinema historians and critics defined the category retrospectively. 

Before the term was widely adopted in the '70s, many of the classic Films Noir were referred to as melodramas. Whether Film Noir qualifies as a distinct genre is an ongoing debate among film affectionados. 

Me? I think it's a creditable genre. They may not have realized it when they made the film but the characteristics are all similar and recognizable. Today, some producers and directors use this genre specifically when making their movies.

The lighthouse from the beach. 

The seas were rough; the storm had roiled up the sea and the waves were high today.

What the...!?! More rocks!! Oh, it's Ok. This time there's a shell in there.

Ah, that makes it all better. 

Hahaha, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I didn't spend much time on the beach ... er, the rocks. The wind was up, the spray was everywhere and I wasn't all that steady wobbling around in the rocks.

Sooooo, I made my long and winding way up the stairs to the top of the bluff.

I now realize I should have gotten a picture of these steps so that you could more readily commensurate with me. 

Well, I did make it up the stairs and, I say proudly, without requiring any assistance whatsoever. But, like when I was going down, with plenty of time for taking pictures at each and every one of the landings set along the stairs. Every. One. 

And that's where I got this picture of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. While the clouds were clearing a bit and it wasn't raining, the wind was still hitting everyone and everything hard.

Whoop!! Here I go again. 

The Lighthouse with a little Noir thrown in for fun.

It was a dark and stormy night...this would be a good picture for a Nancy Drew Mystery book.

The Mystery of the Lonely Lighthouse!!

There weren't many pictures of today's shoot that I kept; just 72 of them. I'm getting better (?) about editing. 

I had a lot of pictures of the lighthouse and so I tried different effects on them. This is the picture I got without any adjustments. For fun, let's see what happens when I try the Film Noir and Mono filters.

Here's Mono ... a pretty much straightforward effect rendering the picture in tones of grey, black and white. A traditional shot.

And then in Film Noir. Harsher contrasts, deeper blacks and subdued whites. Cleaner, really.

For such an ugly day, this shot turned out surprisingly bright. Almost like a summer day.

There wasn't much I was going to do today, given the wind and the chill. Pretty much I just took a walk around the lighthouse. And while strolling along I got this shot. And immediately put it into Film Noir B&W.

I gave up and headed on back to the Mini. I grabbed this shot walking back. This looks more like what the day was actually like. More than the picture two above this one does.

Carol got this shot with her trusty cell phone camera.  That's me, the little speck with the yellow and blue jacket on. This was just after I gave up the chase and was heading back up the Stairs of Death ... which you can see just a bit of on the left side of this picture.

CB

Now, here's a picture I wish I had taken. Carol got this interesting picture of the lighthouse with her cell phone camera. Can you see it? She caught the shadow of the lighthouse.

What a neat shot.

CB

Now we're going to take a little trip down Ol' Smilin' Jack's Memory Lane.

Seems I've passed this way before, way back on July 13, 2007. (I know the date thanks to the memory embedded in each and every picture. Ah, modern technology.)

I got this shot of the lighthouse then and, it appears, I've not found a new way of shooting it since then. Oh, and in B&W, too. Hahaha, I guess I'm nothing if I'm not predictable, right!?!

July 13, 2007

I do believe they've done some renovations to it since 2007. Well, at least they cleaned the bird poop off the roof.

July 13, 2007

Still nursing my B&W tendencies this is a detail of the exhibit inside the lighthouse. Which, at that time, you did not need to schedule a tour to get inside of. Nope, you just walked on up and strolled on in. Nowadays, you need to come into the Guest Center and sign up for a tour. Ah, the simpler times those eight and a half years ago were.

July 13, 2007

Here's the color shot that I cropped the one above from. I am shameless. 

I went to a presentation once where the photographer presenting said that he shoots so that he doesn't need to crop; that he rarely cropped any of his pictures. I was sitting there and thinking, "Damn, I'm really screwing up then because I crop nearly every one of my pictures!!"

Oops!!

Well, I've never claimed to be a real photographer. I'm just, on a good day, a picture-taker.

July 13, 2007

After the shoot, we were both cold and ready to eat. The great idea was to stop at Jay's Fish 'N Chips, grab a couple of meals and head on back.

Like I said, a great idea.

Jay's ain't much of a treat for the eyes but ... it's good. And today it was packed. Well, I guess it's packed a lot.

Hahaha, they have a sign prominently displayed on the counter that tells you if you ordered "To Go" than you must go!! No changing your mind and grabbing a table. 

Hahaha, NO soup for you!!!

At least the decorations, while spartan, are friendly. Just don't touch!!

You touched!! NO soup for you!!

I like these small wooden ships.  They have a pull on me. 

And there were several there for me to shoot today.

I had a miniature version of this. Sorta commemorating my affection for constantly shooting gulls. Folks have been putting up with them for many a year now.

When you have time to stand around and wait, you also have time to stand around and look. And things can attract your attention, like the back side of a painted window advertisement.

Sometime I am going to have to shoot this with a more discerning eye. I just grabbed this shot to see what it might look like. I like it.

You've been warned.

And, after all that, I forgot to get any pictures of this delicious meal. D'oh!!

All in all a good day. Got to run some necessary errands. Got to experience, first-hand, a pretty doggone good Central Coast of Oregon Storm. Got to get out and get me some pictures. And got a tasty meal of 3-piece Cod Fish 'N Chips. 

Mmmmmmm...

Can't ask for much more than that now, can you? 

And so, even though it is a Saturday, I still wish you a very Happy Winds-Day.

Life is good.

          Hooah!!