Back in January, I made a trip over to the Oregon coast to do some photography. I was hoping to catch some winter storms coming in over the west coast of Oregon, but Mother Nature decided to give me perfect weather. So, we photographers just make the best of what nature gives us. And who can complain about sunny skies in Oregon in January.

Newport, Oregon was a base for trip, and I got super lucky on hotel rooms. My room faced the ocean, and it offered me a perfect view of the nearby Yaquina Head lighthouse which sits just north of Newport – literally just a mile or so from my hotel.

Anyway, lately I have been experimenting a bit more with night photography, so I had made several attempts to capture the lighthouse at night or after sunset. Unfortunately, I made a dumb decision when bringing gear for this trip. While I did bring my 400mm telephoto lens with a 2X teleconverter, I decided to bring my lighter backpacking tripod. It’s really a nice, super-lightweight tripod made from carbon fiber, but the head is just not strong enough to support that heavy lense really well, especially when making long exposures.

So, the last evening I was in Newport, the sky was really getting perfect as some clouds were finally moving back into the area. I mounted my camera with the 24-200mm zoom, and was able to catch a beautiful post-sunset shot of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse from my balcony.

The lighthouse still has its original Fresnel Lens, which is casting the light in the photo above. If you’re a bit of a historian, the Yaquina Head Lighthouse was opened in 1873 to help guide mariners through the notorious Oregon Coast. It still houses its original first order (the biggest) Fresnel lens which was built in France in 1868. From it’s 93 foot (28 meter) height, above the Pacific Ocean the lens projects a beam of light 19 miles (30.6 km) out to sea.

The lighthouse area is extremely beautiful with wonderful surf, rugged coastal cliffs and rock outcroppings. The evening I arrived in Newport, I stayed in the park taking photos until the ranger came by and told me that she was locking the gate to the park trail. But I did manage to catch this beautiful sunset from the cliffs down below the lighthouse. By the way, she was kind enough to give me a ride back the lighthouse, and she loved this photo.

I just wanted to make a quick post as a kind of preview for later posts about the Oregon coast. Hopefully you enjoyed these photos and a bit of history from Oregon’s past. Thanks for visiting and have fun out there. Nature has a magical way of healing our souls.