Rialto beach on the Pacific coast is part of Olympic National Park. And after the girls had fun seeing Forks, the setting of the Twilight movies, we drove down to the beach. It was a gray day but not raining. I doubt anyone would want to go swimming here anyway as the water is cold. But a stormy looking day might make for some interesting photos.
I wasn’t expecting pelicans but three of them came flying down the shore line. I always enjoy seeing them down at the Gulf of Mexico and I enjoyed seeing them here too. I tracked them until they had a sea-stack in the background. Even though there were a lot of clouds, I apparently had plenty of light to shoot them a f/6.3, 1/1600s, and ISO180.
I wandered down the beach to the rockier coast up north of the parking area. One thing that surprised me was the huge dead trees all along the beach apparently the result of storms. There is scarcely any spot along the shore that doesn’t have these trees. I experimented with trying to use them as compositional elements. Not sure I made good work of that.
Perhaps I was too focused on the famous sea-stacks just off the coast. I thought they looked beautifully gloomy with the stormy skies and haze. While the photos look like black-and-whites, they are in full color; the day was just that gray.
The below image I worked on the most. I wanted it to look isolated at sea so I avoided the shore waves. I blurred and boosted contrast on the water quite a bit to make it look a little more mysterious. The sea birds were nice as well. Imagine being lost at sea and this distant craggy island is your only hope in stormy weather.
Even though the images seem dark and moody, I enjoyed my visit and getting to photograph the shoreline under such conditions. I had also been suffering from a cold for a few days because I only get sick on vacations, so the cool sea air was nice.
Taken the previous day from a boat, but in keeping with the ocean theme, the tail of a humpback whale just before a deep dive. Thanks for reading
Jason Frels 
Despite the limited palette, there’s a nice variety in your images. It’s especially cool that you got to see a whale, but the fog and the rocks appeal to me just as much.
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I probably could have hung out on the beach all day shooting the gloom.
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A gray day on the beach is still better than a sunny day at work. 🙂 That’s what my friend and I always say if it’s gray and rainy on our beach trips.
The photo of the island is my favorite. It has a mysterious feel to it. Love the whale’s tail, too!
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That is true about the beach.
We also saw an orca, but I don’t have any good photos of that. The humpback’s are bigger and seem to be more playful.
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Cool about seeing the orca too. Do you have more photos of the humpbacks?
Yes, you can’t really go wrong spending a day at the beach, unless its storming. Then you may not want to be there. Did your cold go away after the beach?
Another reason for a beach house, one would probably have less colds and sinus trouble.
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I did not get a lot of great whale photos. They stubbornly insisted on staying in the water
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How dare they? They missed their chance of being photographed by an amazing photographer. If only they had known, then I am sure they would have shown off for you. I guess they are humble whales.
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Good thing they weren’t Gray whales, or they would have blended right in with the weather. Beautiful photos. My favorite is the tree on the shoreline.
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Yeah, I didn’t see the prince of whales either.
Thanks, I spent a lot of time waiting for people to walk out of the frame to take that photo. It was either that or subject them to the wrath of Photoshop.
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No that you mention it, I can see a lot of footprints in the sand.
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🤦♀️
Just think how your views would have soared if you had seen the prince.
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I think the next to last one is my favorite. It does have that mysterious look to it, like the opening to a crime movie.
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That is where the bandits are hiding the gold.
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I hope Clint Eastwood is on their trail.
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These seem to have a good sense of depth.
I think I like the tree best. The second to last is cool. But it’s a little disturbing in a “The Mist” sort of way.
One of the reasons I choose to live in the mountains is having grown up under the Pacific marine layer. Daily morning gloom burning off to a uniform gray gets old pretty fast.
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Nice photos, Jason. One must appreciate the “grey” days as much as the “blue” ones.
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