Capturing hidden underwater worlds in Oregon

Three years ago in the summer of 2021, I rented a camper van in Portland and spent a week photographing the Oregon coast. I began my journey in the north and gradually made my way south. Along the route, I captured countless images of sea stacks, beaches, rocks and driftwood. My trip concluded at the Samuel Boardman Scenic Area, near the California border. By a stroke of luck, I arrived during one of the season’s lowest tides, just after sunrise. The edge of the ocean had receded multiple feet, revealing dark boulders covered in vibrant green seaweed along with pools of saline water containing anemones, starfish, and an array of intricate textures and details. I had never seen anything like it before.

Fully aware that my time was limited by the incoming tide, I dropped my tripod and started shooting handheld. I couldn't get over how alien and magical this world appeared when viewed out of context through the camera viewfinder. A cornucopia of glistening textures and vibrant colors, as seen in this unedited image from that trip:

I kept shooting, and before I knew it, the tide returned, and the secret world I stumbled across disappeared.

Since then, I've been wondering what else is down there. If I went back during the lowest tide of the summer and focused my time and attention, what else would I find? What other images were waiting to be captured?

Knowing it might not lead to anything (I could always photograph "normal" Oregon landscapes as a fallback), I hopped on a plane the first week of August, got up well before sunrise, put on my waterproof mud boots, and ventured out in the dark. When the sun rose, I found scenes like this (see if you can find the easter egg starfish):

This was exactly what I was hoping for. A subaqueous world of slimy, wet seaweed, vibrant algae, and loads of texture. So much texture in fact, I applied negative clarity to some images (like the one above) because my camera's digital medium format sensor captured an abundance of it. The details were almost too sharp and digital looking.

Creatively, I wanted to get inside this world. To feel part of it, albeit temporarily. To live in it, as if it were my home. I knew from my first attempt in 2021 the sky would be much brighter (blank and textureless too, most likely), so I tried to avoid it whenever possible while composing my images.

This was, without question, one of the strangest and most difficult environments to photograph I've ever encountered. The ground was unbelievably slimy and slippery (especially when carrying a bag and tripod), and I always had to check the pools before stepping in them to ensure I wouldn't harm any starfish or sea anemones. Additionally, the tide would sometimes unexpectedly rush in and get dangerously close to my camera, often positioned mere inches above the water line.

I shared the experience of being there in my latest YouTube video, available here and below. If you enjoy the video, do me a big favor and give it a thumbs up to help expose it to more viewers (YouTube's algorithm is making discovery harder than ever, these days).

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