05/03/2023
Sharing
I recently took a trip down the entire Oregon coast and into California on the hunt for the magical natural phenomenon called Bioluminescence. This phenomenon where the waves glow blue at night is due to a tiny organism called phytoplankton that glows bright blue to ward off predators. During this trip I captured some incredible moments, from a bluff crawling with nocturnal salamanders overlooking a glowing blue coast, to Northern Lights in one of the most unexpected places.
I gained a special interest in this phenomenon a few years ago and it helped inspire me to pursue and realize my passion for photography, so this trip was very special to me.
We started off the trip in Northern Oregon and hit a few beaches that night. The first 3 beaches, there was nothing, then the 4th place we stopped was a beautiful bluff overlooking the coast. This is where we had our first bioluminescent experience of the trip. As we let our eyes adjust to the darkness, we began to see the waves glowing as they were crashing 300ft below us onto the edges of the giant rock formations.
We were ecstatic that our long trip was already paying off and decided to stay in that spot for the rest of the night. We still have a very long drive ahead of us at this point so we use this time to take in the moment and rest our minds and bodies before continuing on this long but incredible journey.
Along our hike down to the spot we noticed dozens if not hundreds of salamanders scattered all over the bluff. We really had to be cautious with each step to make sure we weren't stepping on any. I thought how cool would it be if I could get atleast one of them in my photograph with the bioluminescence, so I found the perfect scene where a salamander was resting in a spot that overlooks the glowing blue coast.
Photographing at night is extremely difficult and takes a ton of patience, but photographing creatures at night is even more tough. Without touching him I began taking photos, exposing the salamander as long as I could without getting blur from his movement. Once I had my shot I continued with the rest of my process to gather the detail in the rest of the scene.
Overall I am very proud of how this turned out. It is not perfect but I am most proud of the effort I put into capturing this extremely unique moment. I had no idea before this that salamanders are nocturnal and that is why they were so active that night. 💙🦎
