A typical day on the Oregon Coast
In 1959, Dinah Washington won a Grammy for her rendition of this Rhythm and Blues favorite, and I remember my mother use to love listening to it…I was fourteen!!
While going through some old images I stumbled upon a couple that were taken while on an assignment in Oregon, and all of a sudden this song popped into my head and bingo, I had the basis for an interesting post.
I say interesting because what I’m talking about occasionally happens to some of my students that take my online classes with the BPSOP. I’ve also personally encountered this in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct arount the planet.
What I’m getting at is the fact that over that past fifty years of shooting, I have had to shoot whatever the weather and light brought me on any particular day…sometimes no matter what; but sometimes I could do something about it.
The students taking my online classes will have the opportunity to go back to a location and go for it again, and I encourage this all the time. If the location, time, and circumstances warrent during one of my workshops, we’ll go back either at the same time or if we were there in the morning we’ll go back in the afternoon if logistics dictates.
In the two photos that I’ve have submitted, the one at the top was shot on a very gray/blue overcast/foggy afternoon at a location somewhere on the Oregon coast. We had a man and his trained dog with us and we were looking for some great light; which we didn’t get… as you can obviously see.
I shot it anyway just to have something in the can and it came out pretty good , actually depicted Oregon’s coast as it usually looks; but I was determined to shoot in better light.
What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours.
We came back the next day at the same time but on our way to the same location a little further down I was welcomed by this incredible sky, and what a difference a day made. Knowing how fleeting the light is we all jumped out of the car and shot this in less than a minute; which is about all the ‘powers that be’ intended to give me.
So my fellow photographers, never give up a potential ‘keeper’ if you possibly can. Go back the next day and try it again because as Eddie Adams once said, “When you get lucky, be ready”.
In case you’re interested, here’s Dinah singing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmBxVfQTuvI
Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my 2018 workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.
This coming July 29th will be my 30th anniversary teaching at the Maine Media Workshop. I’ve always picked this time as it’s the week of the Lobster Festival down the road in Rockland. This ofers a unique set of photo ops, different from the Maine Coast, fishing villages and lighthouses. The Lobster Festival is all about color, design, light, energy, people watchng and environmental portraits everywhere you look; some people are there in costumes and loved to be photographed.
In conjunction with The Santa Fe Workshops, on October 2nd I’ll be leading a group in San Miguel de Allende. A beautiful oasis and artist colony, and the entire city is a UNESCO site.
Come join me for a week of fun and photography…what could be better?
JoeB
