Oceanside Pier and Harbor Photo Tour - California, United States

For the first session of our Image Quest photography workshop, our group was introduced to the beauty of Oceanside’s Pier and Harbor area.   Oceanside is 30 minutes North of San Diego.

The evening of our arrival, we went to the Municipal Pier to see coastline at sunset.  The pier was hopping! Lots of people fishing, lots of people enjoying the beach, and with the surf up, the surfing was really fun to watch.    This was a very happy, very social gathering area.  It was fun to see people cheer when someone caught a fish or when someone caught a big wave… I really got lost in the vibe.  I was delighted to see the beautiful splash of orange that filled the sky as the sun set.

Early the next morning we went back to Oceanside, but this time we went to the harbor.  The harbor has people catching bait, paddling their kayaks, and getting ready to go out fishing.  The Snowy Egrets were watching everyone, looking to sneak a fish.  Our hosts treated us to breakfast by the lighthouse, and we left for our next destination.

The Oceanside Pier, first built in 1888, is the longest wooden pier on the West Coast. Later this weekend we’ll visit another Oceanside historic feature, the Mission San Luis Rey.

The workshop was hosted by Dave Wyman, author of a few photography books.  He and the distinguished guest host, Ken Rockwell, helped the workshop participants learn to spend a little extra effort to add a touch of fine art to create more rewarding photos… an inspiring vision.

Dave coached people by example.  He took a relatively small number of pictures, but they were “Wow!” pictures.  Some of his techniques include using reflections, close-ups, unusual angles, or camera special effects like saturation.