I attended Nick Page’s Winter Waves workshop on January 4-9th 2026. I had interest in this for a number of years as I had been fascinated with the large surf images (King Tides) of the Oregon coast. Nick has developed some expertise in this area so I decided to attend his workshop. I was not disappointed. He takes his job very seriously and works hard to put us in situations to get the best images we can. His expertise in interpreting surf charts and tides was really helpful. He taught us how to interpret wave charts via apps to understand where we might see the best waves.
We started this workshop in the north, actually in WA at Cape Disappointment. This is an area known for massive waves in the winter months. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite get the waves we wanted, but there is so much to shoot in this area that it was still a great location.
We continued south staying in Newport one night. We spent a good portion of the workshop staying in Bandon OR. I’d say our biggest and best waves were from viewpoints in Shore Acres State Park. While we were shooting, some locals told us these were some of the largest waves they could remember. Its hard to tell in some of the images but a few of these crashing waves had to be over 100 ft tall gauging by how they towered over the cliffs.
Overall it was a great workshop, but a ton of driving and a bit of hiking. I was pretty spent by the end of the trip but pleased with the images.
Deadman’s Cove. This was a bit of a hike to get to and difficult to climb down to the beach. Unfortunately, we didn’t have great light but I was still glad to have shot this iconic location.This was taken at Waikiki beach parking lot area…we were mainly shooting the Cape Disappointment lighthouse and waves, but the light was poor and waves were unimpressive. I was just looking around and spotted the fishing boat slowly moving into the bay. I thought it was funny how the seagull were just clustered around it like it was dinner time. I shot a few different orientations of the boat, and captured this one as it turned away so I could see the name of the boat and it was relatively level not in a rocking motion. I think its definitely a vibe kinda shot, but it’s one of my favorites from that morning.this one is kind of unique, the waves were crashing back out over an embankment timed every few minutes. I waited to capture a bird flying through the scene. Not perfect but it was unique compared to the other wave shots I captured that morning. This next series of shots was mostly later in the week down near Bandon Or. These were mostly taken zoomed way in shooting from various locations around Shore Acres State Park. Definitely a favorite location. One of Nick’s tips when shooting waves like this was to track and follow birds flying through the scene to give some more interest. its challenging, but the more I studied the bird behaviour it was fun. They kinda love flying into and along surf, so after I figured this out it was easier to shoot a burst of shots just as they were hading towards a breaking wave. This is one of my favorites. I love how the one bird is just over the curl of the breaking wave with the water mist providing some contrast to see the bird. I have hundreds of shots of large waves crashing here at Shore Acres State Park, but this one with the setting sun lighting it up is one of my favorites. While I don’t find this a great shot as the wave is mostly in shadow, this is more about the two people on the cliff about to get completely soaked. They were ok but they learned a lesson about being too close to shore that day.This was shot at Bandon Beach in the morning. this light reflecting in the clouds only lasted maybe 2-3 minutes then it was back to a mostly grey scene. shot at sunset, I think this was further down Bandon beach.Coquille River Lighthouse. This took a little bit of difficult climbing to get out to this position. The water was rushing in over and through these rocks, super slippery but critical to get out here to get this perspective. Long exposure to capture the motion of the waves as the water receded from the rocks.early morning long exposure. This was shot at elevation up near the parking lot near Elephant Rock. I think this was at least a 60 second exposure with an ND filter. The famous Wizard’s Hat on Bandon Beach. Long exposure with waves receding Another morning shot…just a touch of light peaked through for a minute touching the tips of the rocks. Long exposure with wave coming in. One of my favorite shots of the trip. Sunset on Bandon Beach. This is a single exposure with the bird flight timed and captured between the rocks. The last morning of our workshop we spent time across the inlet shooting Coquille River Lighthouse again, over on the shore along Jetty rd. These were all very long exposures with ND filters…most over 3 minutes long. Of the two I posted I think I prefer this one.
Home 