Final shot

As the light began to fade, I put the camera on a tripod and created this shot, a 2-second exposure at f/32 to soften the entire scene and to create a feeling of time and movement. Love the green glow in the wave -- a hint of color in an otherwise monochromatic image. ©Carol Leigh

Las olas de Yachats

More from yesterday's incredible wave action. Woo hoo! ©Carol Leigh

Big waves on the coast

It was a beautiful sunny day today and so this afternoon we headed down to Yachats to take a look at the surf. Wow. The waves were moving in beautifully, curling over with the sun backlighting the curl slightly. And the spray lingered over the tops of the waves as they came in. Just beautiful. And it was a metering nightmare! But most of them came out okay. These are the first four I've processed, with hundreds more to take a look at. Eyes are getting blurry, however, so it's time to stop for now.

All were taken with my 70-200mm Canon "L" lens, for those of you who care. Wonderful afternoon. May our lives be filled with them. And to all, a goodnight. ©Carol Leigh

Beach walk . . .

Clear and cold today, so I thought I'd head for the beach to see if there was any ice about. Not more than 100 yards after I'd turned onto the Coast Highway I passed an accident that had just occurred. Major ice on the roads. Hmmm... Undeterred I continued on, cautiously. When I approached "my" beach, no one behind me, I began my left turn. Nope. Car began fishtailing about, so I continued straight ahead. Eventually made a U-turn and came back, no problems. Icy roads? Probably lots of ice on the beach, right? Nope. Ah, well. Let's find some other stuff.

Those of you who took my online class that had the "hearts" lesson in it will know how jazzed I was to see this large strand of kelp. Once you've taken and worked on that lesson, the concept sticks, doesn't it?

The other three shots are just simple little images of what I was seeing -- barnacles on rocks, surrounded by water left by the receding tide, rimmed with foam, or filled with bubbles.

Just five people on the beach during the 1.5 hours I was there. Saw two ravens (love those birds), a skein of pelicans headed south, lots of feathers, lots of agates, and a green rock with white dots on it that I'm planning on photographing some rainy day.

Peace and quiet. And no ice on the road going back home. Tracy brought over some of her excellent fruitcake. Life is good. ©Carol Leigh

Beach Bum

While some people are finding faces in rocks, fishtails in ice, and whales in the sky, leave it to me to find a butt on the beach. And not a very good-looking butt at that! Maybe he's a plumber . . . ©Carol Leigh

Local fauna

Abby looking deceptively sweet and sleepy here in the office. A bit later, we hear her grousing about in the guest room. The complaining continues and we decide to check it out. There in the back yard (HER back yard) is a large deer. She's never seen one before, and she wasn't pleased to have it there. I zoomed back downstairs to get the camera, set the ISO to 3200 and began shooting through the window. It's dark out -- it's been raining all morning -- but there's currently a break in the storm. He stood there, watching me, Chris, and Abby, and then went back to his business of pruning all the plants we foolishly hadn't gotten to yet. Handsome fellow, don't you think? ©Carol Leigh

Happy Holidays!

©Carol Leigh