Three Days with Jon Cornforth – Part Three
Saturday morning started off well before dawn as we rolled out of bed, threw down a quick breakfast, and headed off for Second Beach to shoot the sunrise. We made the mile hike back down to the beach in the dark and clamored over the beach logs just as the first streaks of dawn made their way across the sky.
Even before the sun rose enough to start shooting, we realized it wasn’t going to be a memorable day for photography. The sky was nearly perfectly clear which just wasn’t going to make a spectacular sunrise. We still went through the motions and shot the surf as we looked for anything interesting. Even though there weren’t any suitable gallery shots from that morning – we still had fun exploring the beach.
Waves crashing between the sea stacks
By mid-morning, we made our way back to the camp to get cleaned up and have some actual breakfast. After finishing my peanut butter and jelly bagel (my request), I set off for my shower in the campground shower facilities. This was one of the more frustrating attempts at a shower – I found a shower that worked on my fourth attempt. When I figured out that one didn’t work, I had to get completely dressed again, go outside, select another, then strip down again to try once again.
That afternoon, we headed for the Hoh rainforest after a short stop at Ruby Beach. The Hoh is a beautiful spot with giant cedars and heavy moss. if the weather and lighting conditions would have cooperated, we would have had lots of good photo opportunities. This was not to be the case – the weather was the same bright sun and blue skies that doesn’t make for good rainforest photography.
Having fun in the Hoh when the weather isn’t cooperating
As we were pulling in to Forks on the way to the Hoh, Jon noticed a sound coming from one of his tires. As we were stopped for gas, we noticed a rather large spike sticking out of one of his tires. This meant trying to locate someone to fix the tire while we ate lunch sitting outside of the garage. The cost of the repair? $16.00
The Hoh was beautiful – and we saw lots of wildlife. While we were there, we saw deer, Roosevelt elk, and other critters. Jon did his best to continue the lesson – but it ended up being more of a discussion of photography topics rather than a lot of hands-on.
Roosevelt Elk in the parking lot at the Hoh rainforest
After returning to our campsite, we had just enough time to prepare for our sunset shot at First Beach. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so there was no chance of majestic sunset shots. Instead, we tried to capture the surf and the warm setting sunlight against the cliffs of First Beach.
Jon suggested that I get right up to the advancing surf and try to catch it as it was receding. I set my camera for a high f-stop (22, I think) and about a quarter of a second exposure and waited for the right wave. I didn’t have to wait long – because one of the first big waves went crashing right over my boot tops soaking me from the knee down. As it turned out, it was just what the shot needed – even though I spent the rest of the night with about a cup of water in my boot.
Waves receding from around my boots on First Beach
Before packing it in for the night, we took some still life rock shots and snapped a few shots of the setting sun as it ducked behind a cloud bank. We headed back to the trailer for a tasty dinner of ground turkey and vegetables in a spicy thai peanut sauce. While we waited for dinner, we took a few moments to review and edit our pictures from the day and pick our favorites.
That night, Ross was able to score one of the luxury condos right on the beach and he invited us to crash there for the night. We stayed up for a few moments and talked before turning in early since we were getting up to shoot the sunrise the next morning.
Check out the rest of my shots from the weekend at SmugMug here: (link)
