Jean

Waves breaking over a rock in the Pacific Ocean, overcast skies.

I finally upgraded to the iPhone 17 Pro. The 8x zoom setting is for photographing the wild ocean waves while staying dry on the shore.

There are a lot of visitors on our beach in this holiday week. It’s almost impossible to get a photo without dogs in the frame. 🥰

For the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society and anyone who likes watching waves: it’s King Tides Eve, and the sunrise high tide gave a little preview of what’s to come. (photo + video)

Happy New Year to all. 👋🏻 🌊 🌲 🏔️ https://micro.welltempered.net/2025/12/31/for-the-pacific-wave-appreciation.html

Rocky jetty and ocean waves

What a difference a day makes. The treacherous mouth of the Columbia on a sunny less windy morning. Clear enough to see how far the jetty goes. 😮 https://micro.welltempered.net/2025/11/28/what-a-difference-a-day.html

For the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society: the massive waves at the mouth of the Columbia River, “one of the most treacherous waterways in the world,” as the sign says. https://micro.welltempered.net/2025/11/28/for-the-pacific-wave-appreciation.html

Bumper stickers : Beach Fort Appreciation Society, I Heart Nehalem

Beach fort pyramid of driftwood, waves and mountain in the background

I saw this bumper sticker, and it made me think we need one for the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society. 🌊 (And, on the same walk I spotted a beach fort!)

Seagull perched on a massive driftwood root on a jetty overlooking foamy waves.

One of favorite photos from last week’s king tides. Unflappable Seagull is not perturbed by the wind, waves or driftwood. (Nedonna Beach, South Jetty of Nehalem Bay)

(I have to admit I wouldn’t mind getting a “real” camera and zoom for a shot like this.)

Large log on the sand near the dunes after another

For those in the Driftwood Trackers subgroup of the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society, here’s Biggish Log yet another 50 ft. closer to the dunes after another day of sneaker wave alert-level surf. 🌊🌊🌊

An update on Biggish Log after a weekend of sneaker wave activity. It’s moved 110 ft from where it was last week. (You can see the path of What3Words pins.) There are bigger King Tides to come, and I predict it will end up buried in the dunes like Big Log.

Tsunami Advisory warning sign on the coast

old man on the beach with a white rainbow above him

scan of an old black-and-white photo of a happy young man and his happy baby

Inundation: not the wave I was expecting: https://micro.welltempered.net/2025/08/19/inundation-not-the-wave-i.html

My shadow flashing a peace sign on the beach.

Day 3 of the Micro.blog photo challenge. Prompt: shadow

Stretch of beach sand with a maze of pools, mountains and surf in the distance.

Day 2 of the Micro.blog photo challenge. Prompt: curve

Very low tide reveals the curves in what I think of as the sand labyrinth.

close-up of two blue velellas on the sand

lots of tiny velellas on the beach

thousands of velellas in mass stranding on the beach

close-up of velellas on beach debris

Stranded (Metaphor Monday #23): https://micro.welltempered.net/2025/05/12/stranded-metaphor-monday.html

Log on a coastal Oregon beach

Screenshot of Biggish Log’s location in What 3 Words

Biggish Log still there. In the same spot.

I’ve marked it using an app called What 3 Words, which has applied a 3 meter square grid to the world and assigned a three word phrase to each square. Biggish Log is located at nuance.enough.budgets.

24 foot 8 inch log on the beach, mountain and waves in the background

Log on the beach, mountains and clouds in the background.

Driftwood update: New log, almost 25 ft long. 7 ft shorter than Big Log. Right now I’m calling Biggish Log. (Yes, biggish is a word.😏)

Blue cloudy sky reflected on the sand, waves, mountain.

For the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society, live from the beach (video + photo). A semi-cloudy not-raining early morning walk is my favorite. Starfish Rock in high tide waves. 🌊⛅️ https://micro.welltempered.net/2025/05/03/for-the-pacific-wave-appreciation.html

3 Substack article preview thumbnails

Nine photos from the Oregon coast, mountains, trees, beaches, and a stack of rocks

What I've Been Doing Lately: Substack and Etsy: https://micro.welltempered.net/2025/04/30/what-ive-been-doing-lately.html

Waves,sand, mountain in the mist

(Video + photo) Long time, no post for the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society. The ocean is still here, in case you wondered. Low low tide on a misty morning. Big boots and rain pants kind of day.

The Joy Who Lived, a festival of trans performance, opens today. 22 different shows on the list so far! Tickets available for streaming and in-person. I’ve got a festival pass.

Founder Laser Webber: “I have always been the kind of person who takes bad feelings and turns them into action.”🏳️‍⚧️

Two medium size black birds with long red beaks by the morning surf.

New bird for me on this morning’s walk: Black Oystercatcher

The name makes me wonder how fast oysters can run.

View of Bayocean beach dunes, driftwood and fog, looking south toward Cape Meares.

Gorgeous. I was nearby on Bayocean a few weeks ago, a day so foggy, you couldn’t see Cape Meares at all. Or the waves, which is terribly unnerving.

A submission for the “golden spiral” assignment of the final week of #TheCompoChallenge. Happy to be back to the coast. 🌊🌲☁️

A submission for the “isolated subject” assignment of Week 3 of #TheCompoChallenge. I’m in the city for a week, so no isolated seagulls. I thought I would quickly collect submissions in this environment of many objects, but I’m out of practice at city photography.

Window frame viewed through a window frame

My 3rd submission for the “frame within a frame” assignment of Week 3 of #TheCompoChallenge. I notice how these challenges that rely on lines and shapes have pushed me out of my comfort zone of big open natural views of the oceanside and its creatures. Revisiting human-built subjects.

Orange sunset on choppy surf.

And for the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society, some cool wave video at sunset on the next day. (video + photo) https://micro.welltempered.net/2025/03/07/and-for-the-pacific-wave.html

Dark clouds leave space for an orange sunset on the ocean.

For the “frame with a frame” assignment of Week 3 of #TheCompoChallenge, a cloud frame of a Pacific sunset. (This photographer did get rained on by the end of the walk.)

Today’s wildlife surprise: two bald eagles breakfasting on the beach. There were five others soaring nearby. I’ve never seen more than one at a time. I even captured their calls in Merlin. 🦅🦅😮

(One of my neighbors got a photo of the leftovers, and identified it as Western Grebe.)

Squirrel on a branch between two cedars

For the “frame with a frame” assignment of Week 3 of #TheCompoChallenge. Spotted on the Rockaway Cedar Preserve Trail.

“I have always been a person who takes my bad feelings and turns them into action.” Inspired/incited by the Harry Potter play opening in LA, Laser / @lasertheboy is counter programming The Joy Who Lived: A Trans and GNC Theater & Comedy Festival. Join me in supporting this on Kickstarter. 🩵🤍🩷

Crashing waves on the beach, gray skies

Third photo for #TheCompoChallenge: simple horizontal thirds.

I’ve included a video for the wave lovers who like to see the action. 🌊🌊🌊 https://micro.welltempered.net/2025/02/21/third-photo-for-thecompochallenge-simple.html