Adventures with Oregon Coast Videos

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Surreal Scenes from the Oregon Coast: Strange views, night shots, and morphing the beach The point is to find different way to look at the coast, whether it's hidden spots, wild conditions, night shots or use of morphing, reality-bending software. Music by Portland's Hello Morning (featuring Henry Curl of Jonah).

Lightning Storm on Central Oregon Coast In August of 2008, BeachConnection.net happened to be bumming around Newport when a massive thunder storm hit the central coast. It actually all began with some scary experiences in Depoe Bay that involved flashes visible out at sea, as a couple of us were having dinner at a restaurant there.

Then, on the way back to Newport, a stop at an overlook near Boiler Bay turned into a mad dash for the car, as thunder and lightning all of a sudden began swirling around us.

It became clear throughout the evening that the storm was moving in circles around the central coast. You could see it – and hear it – rumbling and flashing in almost all four directions around us, eventually passing straight over us.

At one point, we were in Moby Dick’s, doing karaoke, as massive flashes erupted out on the street and enormous thunder noises were masked only by the loud sound system. It was insane to observe.

Eventually, when it calmed a bit, a couple of us wandered out to the high points just below the Yaquina Bay Bridge – when it seemed unlikely we would get zapped by lightning even with a small, metallic tripod. We filmed a few flashes and they got a nice reception for a few days on the web.

Green Flash at Sunset This one took bundles of work. The “film” rather explains itself. It took a few takes on different dates, and in fact better still shots were eventually taken several months later, which didn’t make it to this film (but are on BeachConnection.net).

Essentially, the green flash is the result of all the color bands except the green being taken out by certain atmospheric conditions. It’s a kick in the pants to see – and even cooler to actually catch on video or still shots.

I’ve personally seen it numerous times – at least ten. The most notable was one in Depoe Bay on July 3 of 2008. Wow, it was a killer that freaked even my coastie pals who’d lived there all their lives.

Unusual Moments on the Oregon Coast Portland band Jonah fit this idea like a glove, with their anthemic song that had a rather oceanic feel to it, not to mention many references in the lyrics. They’ve had some tunes on TV, by the way, including “Dawson’s Creek” several years ago and in CBS’ “Ghost Whisperer.”

This has become by far the most popular video we’ve done, although it’s really just a collection of stills.

I’ve been collecting coastal moments and shots since the mid-90’s, and there’s been tons of odd things I’ve encountered in all sorts of ways and been lucky enough to document. Adorable seal pups, strange cloud formations, hidden spots you can’t get to anymore, low tide events, rare wildlife moments, and simply unusual views of things, details and happenings. And then there’s that giant dog that’s bigger than anything in Cannon Beach.

Some coastie left a comment on YouTube that maybe this wasn’t so unusual after all, that indeed many residents would be used to these sights. That’s likely true of quite a few moments depicted here, but they don’t realize what’s happening in many of these stills. Not only are there many secret spots on the Oregon coast – there are secret moments, hiding in plain sight.

An interesting tidbit is that several of the Lincoln City and Depoe Bay shots were taken during the bachelor party of Henry Curl back in 2003 – he’s the lead singer of Jonah.

Oregon Coast December 07 Storm Who can forget that melee? Well, coasties can forget it less than landlubbers – or those of us who live on the coast part time, and had to watch the insanity rip up our beloved beach on TV.

I was stuck in Portland during the first few days, but the minute the roads were open, I zipped over and documented Seaside, Cannon Beach and Manzanita. It was surprising to find most people in such good spirits, actually getting a kind of kick out of the novelty of it all.

Remnants of that storm still exist today along Highway 26, where parts will never look the same with massive tree root systems torn up and facing the highway in spots.

Ironically, I took some grand footage of Cannon Beach and Seaside just a week before the big storm of 2007, where it was sunny, gorgeous, and even somewhat warm before the sun began waning. What a difference a week makes on that coast. And just a few days, it was eerily calm and beautiful again – absolutely intoxicating.

Oregon Coast Fall Storm, Magic Rocks Beach Ironically, this was taken about a month before the big storm of 2007. It wasn’t a massive storm, by any means. But big waves made lots of noises on this always unusual and very hidden beach.

A beer commercial was filmed in this area in the 90's.

I never tire of these funk noises made by the cobblestones.

Ghost Story on Oregon Coast It was here in this hotel in Wheeler where I first learned of strange paranormal legends and the freaky concept of the “Wheeler Moment,” where strange but beautiful coincidences seem to happen constantly (like something out of the show “LOST”).

This was admittedly a raw and early experiment with my video direction, and I sound like I’m doing a bad Vincent Price impression, among other flaws. But it gets the point across, and I love Keith Schreiner’s music (he was half of Dahlia, a famed Portland band from the early 2000’s). He’s like our own version of Brian Eno.

I had my own odd Wheeler Moment filming this. I’d always wanted to get publicity for the website in Sunset Magazine. And as I was filming there, it just so happened there was a writer from that mag staying there, doing a story. I told her about the Wheeler Moment concept, and she suddenly realized she’d had her own already that day.

A year later, when her article came out, it included a nice little reference to BeachConnection.net. A Wheeler Moment fulfilled indeed.

Video Tour of Manzanita, North Oregon coast I had bundles of fun creating this, although it was a bit of an experiment. Taking all sorts of very raw footage of Manzanita on a rather dreary day created the need for some more upbeat, sunny still shots, and some pics of unusual stuff in the area that involved long hikes I didn’t feel like engaging in. Luckily, I already had dozens and dozens of shots of MZ (as we call it).

Again, Keith’s tunes worked perfectly for this. Something about electronica and the beach just go together.

180 Miles of Oregon Coast in Four Minutes There’s a lot of hidden spots in here – a lot of places many people don’t know about. I purposely avoided many of the typical views of the coast. There is only one faint shot of Cannon Beach’s Haystack Rock, because everyone uses it. Seaside got a bundle of aerial views because everyone knows it too well. So chunks of the shoreline of Tillamook Head – never accessible or viewable except by air – are used instead.

Someday, I will literally point my camera out the car and whiz by all these spots, and then put them in a video. But for now, these nearly 200 stills will do. I do not believe anyone has done this before for the Oregon coast. I don’t know of anyone else who could have. This is a first.

Yet again, the electronica thing works exceptionally well for such a vid. Jonah fit the bill so nicely.

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