Cape Disappointment and big waves

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my friend Mike and I, just got back from Ilwaco, Wa/Cape Disappointment State Park on a run and go trip. Run and go trips are trips that require you to just go because of time, condition or event that you have to react to rather than plan. In this case, the short notice was because of the weather. For this particular location, we needed bad weather. The worse the better. We wanted big surf so we waited for a high surf advisory. When it was announced that swells were forecasted to be 25-28 feet with high winds for Friday and Saturday we knew where we had to be.

We got to the park just as high tide was rolling in and to the good news of an accurate forecast. The wind was crazy with gust to probably 40mph and the waves were huge. We also had numerous rain showers and light hail that moving overhead every 15 mins or so. Once we got to Waikiki beach, it was clear there was no way out of the rain and wind and those waves were awesome. So, jumping out of the car and grabbing the camera, tripod and rain coat, I headed off to the top of the break to photograph the lighthouse and waves.

There is often better time off day to photograph than mid-afternoon; but when the waves and tide table is what you want, you just have to go for it. As I sat there on the rocks photographing, the waves literally pounded the coast often times ringing out a clap of thunder as they slammed the rocks. This particular image was was taken just as the wave started to hit the rocks. I really like the mirroring of the curve of the wave that matches the cure in the rocks and the height of the wave. This curve only happens for a brief second and then the wave explodes and is consumed back into the ocean.

This is also one of the first images I have posted that was processed solely in Snapspeed on the iPad. Actually, the entire post is being driven from the iPad. While I like having editing on the iPad. I hope that soon we are able to have spot healing as there are some water spots that I would have liked to have removed in the image in Snapspeed or maybe in Photoshop Express. The image was captured on a Nikon D700 with a 70-200mm f/2.8 on Lexar media.

February 26, 2012

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