Ever since I started photography I have dreamed about visiting this beach with the right conditions: A clear day.

One thing I have learned through these years as a photographer is that, for some places, you can never truly prepare for the conditions you are going to get. The Pacific Northwest is one of those places.

I had failed before, twice, on my attempt to come see the Haystack Rock and take photos, my hopes for this to happen were low, but never vanished.

I planned to come visit again on early July of 2024, forecast looked ok at first, then it looked dull again, but I already had everything booked and was not going to just call it another failed attempt without giving it my all, so, a week ahead of the trip, I stopped checking the weather conditions for the area and just hoped for the best.

I wish I could have thought about doing that sooner, it could’ve saved me some sleep on different occasions, but that’s what we are talking about today, the thing is, that I lucked out and managed to get better conditions that I could even ask for.

As we can see from the first shot when I walked up to the beach, Mother Nature had blessed with me a clear day. I couldn’t be happier. One of the first things I did was to FaceTime by best friend, a Brother, Cesar. I felt the need to share the feeling with someone I knew would understand it. As our call finished, there was a moment where I just stood there, taking it all in. As much as I wanted to photograph every single moment, sometimes you have to take a step back and just breathe, being able to enjoy and remember these things with your own eyes is such a blessing that can’t be replaced with any photo.

Every person represents a different story.

One thing that stands out from this particular place, is that the air, in a way, felt different. I don’t know or have a way to prove it, it could’ve been just me being biased and utterly living the moment to the fullest, but there was something different in the atmosphere, as if it was cleansing my soul from the previous disappointments, as if the air was trying to tell me: ‘‘it was all worth it’’.

Another view of Cannon Beach’s icon, the Haystack Rock.

There are all kinds of people at the beach, some just go for a walk, some go for a swim, some others lay down and tan, some will take their shoes off and enjoy the sandy toes life, I am the opposite to the later, I can not stand sand on my toes. However, I was staying about 2 minutes away from the beach, I had spent approximately 12hrs with my hiking boots on and just got off a 2hr drive, so I decided to try something different that day, I walked barefoot, not only on the beach, but on the streets too, as I managed to walk around some shops before going back to the beach.

This shot is the only souvenir I got from this store.

Had to get a closer look. Isn’t it beautiful?

But wait, there is more. I walked for a few more minutes, just finding different angles to showcase the warmth light of this lovely Summer afternoon.

Is this someone’s house? An Airbnb? An Old Store? I dont know. I just thought it was worthy of a shot.

At this point, I had completely forgotten about the beach. The light kept getting better as the Sun started to dip in the horizon, so I decided to turn around and walk back to the beach.

I paused here to eat a snack, I also took this shot.

Lovebirds leaving the beach, snapped this shot on Stealth Mode, if you know, you know.

As I headed back to the beach, the same feeling came back to me. The air, the atmosphere, the stillness, it was just my camera and me, a few clouds on the sky, birds flying, mist coming across my face, some things are so hard to describe, they are meant to be experienced, lived, enjoyed thoroughly.

As the Sun kept coming down, the time to launch my drone was getting closer and closer. Before doing so, I walked to the grass and found one of the most common compositions on the beach, the shot with the grass on the foreground and the Haystack in the back.

Unintentionally found and captured one of the classics.

I didn’t move much from here, I had found a little nest to myself, one created by many other photographers who captured this composition way before I ever walked up to it. I settled down for the day, I launched my drone and enjoyed another snack, still in disbelief of how incredibly this day turned out to be. Some times, the best experiences are not planned, they are just meant to be.

Cannon Beach with My Lumix