355 - Rialto Beach
*Note: This adventure also features an in-field vlog.
Ah, yes. We finally hit the infamous Rialto Beach in the Olympic Peninsula. Last time I was here I only hit Second Beach, only to completely bypass this epic beach.
Don't get me wrong, Second Beach is pimpin', but nowhere NEAR as epic as Rialto Beach. At the time I had about two days to spend in Olympic National Park, and I did absolutely no research before showing up. Lesson learned. ALWAYS hit that research before venturing into an area with spotty service.
Anyways, let's get to the point of this adventure. For starters, Rialto Beach is divided into two halves. The left side (facing the ocean) is on the Quileute Reservation, while the right side is owned by the US National Park Service. The left half is short, while the right half goes on for miles.
The first night we did the left side, where it was a mix of foggy and sunny. This provided some sick shots with the seascapes, more specifically one we got up fairly close to.
Initially I wanted to get that shot without the ocean in it, but upon editing, I realized the ocean helped add some much need depth to the shot. Maybe if MORE mist was available I could have pulled it off, but I really needed to crop down more to balance the sea stack.
Walking on (or should I say climbing driftwood on), I was able to snag a quickie of some ocean debris. It was in the shape of a dinosaur spine, which looked ridiculous and caught my eye:
“Tropical Ribcage”
Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
ISO 200 ~ 59mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/200s
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
After this, we had to call it a day. I'd been slacking on my editing, and I was rapidly falling behind. I'm still trying to get used to full-time photography/vlogging, as opposed to DoorDashing. It's a (very) different lifestyle.
I had two adventures built up to edit on top of this one, which is a LOT when you account for photos, vlog, blog, and social media posting. As much as I wanted to stay out for sunset and shoot, I couldn't afford to fall anymore behind. Knowing I had at least two bangers in the bag already, I set up shop and edited the night away.
The next day we started again around noon. Luckily it was even more misty, so we didn't have to wait for any type of sunset lighting. My favorite- ALL DAY SHOOT TO SHOOT, BABY. The whole beach was so misty you could barely see 100 yards in front of you. It was nuts.
Our goal was to make it to Hole in the Wall, which is a rock formation about 1.7miles down the right side of the beach. I honestly didn't expect it to be busy for some reason, but it was PACKED the whole way.
I think the "terrible" conditions threw me off. Obviously for us photographers, the conditions were prime moodiness. But for randos, rainy mist wasn't exactly ideal conditions for a day on the beach. But people didn't seem to care.
So we snagged some careful b-roll in the walk down.
Jump forward to the Hole in the Wall, it's actually pretty dope. The "hole" frames another sea stack perfectly, providing a tasty backdrop for a silhouette. Check this baby out:
“Realm 32c”
Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
ISO 200 ~ 24mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/200s
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Now, this shot is fairly tricky to get. For one, you have to access the hole either by a sketchy tide pool, or climb up the forest on the side through fairly steep trails. Once at the rock, there's dozens of people flowing in and out on a regular basis, so you have to be patient and wait for the space to clear. To throw salt on a wound, there's green sea urchins everywhere under the arch, so people like to hang out under it and snap pics for awhile.
I think we hung out for about an hour to get that shot, a b-roll clip, and Haley's shot. We even told someone to move at one point, which I don't like doing. Luckily the dude was chill as fuck and moved out of the way for the 30 seconds we needed for Haley's shot.
Overall, solid shoot. I would definitely return to do more landscape photography-esque shots. Lots of potential for it, but I was really in the mood for an environmental portrait for some reason. I think I've been going so hard on landscape shots I needed to change it up. That always happens to me. I'll probably be shooting drone shots again in a week.
Anyway, that's all folks. BYYEEEEE.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
*Please note this page contains affiliate links.
