Gas Station Graffiti

On Hwy 20, just outside of Corvallis, Oregon (to the Northeast I believe), there is an old gas station that has been closed down for some time. It's been tagged with graffiti frequently, with either obscene or very political statements mostly. My wife and I passed by it on our way to do some grocery shopping in Corvallis and I noticed a rather interesting message on the side of the building. It said "Your best investment" with a painting of a finger pointing out at the viewer. I thought it was worth going back to take a picture.

Spouting Horn

Near Cape Perpetua, a few miles south of Yachats, there is a small bridge over Cook's Chasm and a viewpoint area with a path down to the rocks on the North side. On the South side of the chasm, you can see what is known as the "Spouting Horn." When water rushes in with a wave, it is forced into an opening in the rocks which continues up and out through a small hole at the top. When the pressure builds up, it spouts some distance in the air. The spout can be very high depending on the size of the wave. Here is a shot I took of it last week.

Haceta Head Lighthouse

I took this shot of the Haceta Head lighthouse under repair from the Sea Lion caves which is just down the road to the South. You can see the scaffolding and a trailer parked out in front. The entire area also appears to be fenced off. I have heard this is one of the most photographed lighthouses in Oregon. Here's one more photo, but maybe the scaffolding will make it at least a little unique...

Haceta Head

For sunset the other night, we decided to go down to Haceta Head, just North of Florence, Oregon. The lighthouse there is under repair but it's still a scenic area. I took several pictures during "magic hour" as the sun was dipping down toward the horizon. In this HDR shot, you can't quite see the lighthouse with all it's scaffolding because it's hidden behind some trees, but there's a nice view of the house up on the cliff with the two giant rocks leading out into the ocean. A father and daughter are prepparing to watch the sunset on the far right of the frame as well.

Sea Lion Caves

We just got back from a two night stay on the Oregon Coast near Yachats. We stopped in at the Sea Lion Caves yesterday morning. It's a few miles north of Florence. I had been there before, but my wife hadn't. She had second thoughts when we stepped on the elevator to go down into the cave and the stench nearly overwhelmed her. Fortunately, the cave itself was much more pleasant. We had the place mostly to ourselves for the first few minutes so I setup my tripod for a few shots. With the lower light, I had to use longer exposures than I'd normally like to for animals and moving objects, but The Sea Lions were mostly subdued and there was more light than I expected coming in. The following is a HDR composite shot with the small island in the foreground and one of the legs of the cave leading out to the ocean behind it. The sea lion on the top of the island seemed to be posing there for me.

I also have a wide shot of the whole cave, but I was unable to position the tripod close enough to the bars protecting us tourists to keep them out of the shot. I'll throw it up on Flickr anyway if you are interested.