When the summer heat in the Oregon desert gets intense it is time to head to the coast. Temperatures can be forty degrees cooler by the sea during the months of July and August, which is a welcome relief for a few days.

This past July my destination was the coast around the town of Bandon, Oregon which is a 'short' five hour drive from my home in the high desert in Central Oregon. This is a phenomenal location for seascape photography at any time of the year. Here you will find lovely beaches with sand dunes and loads of sea stacks just offshore.

On this particular visit I discovered an area along this coastline that I had not previously been to. The beach here is a mix of sea stacks, undulating sand dune and plentiful stands of grass. I scouted the area during the day in order to find some compositions with the intention of returning in the early evening when the light would be more desirable.

I was hoping for some late day golden hour sunlight that would create some pleasing shadows along the dunes. As often is the case during the summer months the fog and low clouds rolled in during the late afternoon. This is when, as a landscape photographer, you have to go with whatever nature gives you. I found a small knoll on which to set up and which enabled me to capture this image from a slightly elevated position.

I was pleased to see the result of my efforts as the combination of the grass in the foreground, the dunes in the middle and the rocks in the background looked very serene under the soft light of the evening.