Sammon Rick - The Oregon Coast photo road trip: how to eat, stay, play, and shoot like a pro

by Nick Page

Photographer John Vant Land was one of several photographers who contributed outstanding photographs to this book. Photograph by John Vant Land

In writing this acknowledgments section, we are reminded of the Beatles song With a Little Help from My Friends. We sure did have a lot of help from our friends in the making of this book.

Several of our friends contributed their photographs to help make this book the best it could be. These talented individuals are Alex Morley, Gerry Oar, Gary Potts, Steve Casey, Bob Lloyd, Susan Dimock, John Vant Land, and Sarah Cail.

The dedicated staff at Countryman Press also gets a big thank you for transforming our digital files and Word documents into a beautifully presented book and e-book. This team includes Michael Tizzano, Ann Treistman, Devon Zahn, Jess Murphy, and Anna Reich. Bill Ruskin, formerly of Countryman Press and W. W. Norton, also gets our thanks for introducing us to our wonderful publisher.

Our thanks also go to all the photographers who participated in our five Oregon Coast photo workshops. You guys helped make the workshops a ton of fun.

Rick is a member of the Canon Explorers of Light program. All his photographs in this book were taken with Canon cameras and lenses. Ricks friends at CanonRob Altman, Danny Neri, Rudy Winston, and Drew MacCallumget a big thank you for supporting his work.

Rick would also like to thank his friends at the companies that support his creative endeavors: Joe Johnson Jr. and Joe Johnson Sr. at Really Right Stuff (tripods and ball heads), Jenn Sherry at Delkin Devices (memory cards and readers), Graham Clark at Breakthrough Photography (filters), and Larry Tiefenbrunn at Platypod (tripods).

And of course, we thank you, the reader, for your interest in our work and in the Oregon Coast.

Oh yeah, we have one final thank you. It goes to workshop participant Mike Spike Ince for finding our car keys inside our car when four other people could not find them. Thanks Mike!

Bandon Beach sunset

Cant wait to get on the road? We understand. However, before you put your car into drive, we suggest that you check out these road trip tipsdeveloped over the course of our five trips on the Oregon Coastwhich will make your trip more enjoyable, productive, and safe.

Planning: Planning is an essential part of any road trip. Sure, its good to be flexible, but planning your route, looking up drive times between destinations, booking a hotel, and researching dining accommodations will help ensure a smooth ride.

Because you will be on the West Coast, the stage is set for spectacular sunsets. And in the morning youll have beautiful warm light. Both are great for photography. Plan to leave your hotel with plenty of time to catch the best light.

We usually do our road trips in the spring, summer, and fall, when the weather is relatively warm and the seas are calm. Winter is also a good time to take an Oregon Coast road trip. Its cool and the seas can pick up, which can make for very dramatic photographs of the waves crashing along the shoreline.

A unique aspect of planning an Oregon Coast road trip involves checking the tides, which you can do on your computer through tides.net and noaa.gov, or on your smartphone by using an app such as Tides Near Me or TideTrac. We plan our trips so that low tide coincides with the golden hours for photographywhich means that in addition to checking the tides, you will need to know the times of sunrise and sunset. Many online references can help with this. We like sunrise-sunset.org, or you can use the weather app on your smartphone.

Many of the best photo-shooting locations are within Oregons state parks, recreation areas, natural areas, and scenic viewpoints. We find the park facilities along the coast to be welcoming and well maintained.

Part of planning is to get an Oregon state park pass in advance of your trip. Having the pass will help save time and money, as you will not have to stop and pay for parking at locations that require a permit. There are several types of passes. We buy the twelve-month day-use parking permit ($30 at the time of writing). Its good at all twenty-six Oregon state parks that charge a parking fee and is available for purchase online at oregonstateparks.org.

We book all of our hotels well in advance of our departure and stick pretty much to our planned schedule.