Why You Should Visit the Oregon Coast ASAP If You're a Landscape Photographer

If you love landscape photography, tourist destinations, and amazing clam chowder then you need to visit the Oregon Coast.

At the end of every semester, my roommate and I take time to make the hour and a half drive to the beautiful town of Newport, OR. This little tourist town is a beautiful destination for tourists, sea lion lovers, and of course beach lovers.

If you're looking for a weekend away and want to catch some great photos while you're at it then the Oregon Coast is the place for you. With great features like aquariums, endless seafood cafés, and windy beaches, the Oregon Coast is the gemstone of Oregon, bringing in tourists from all over the state and all over the country. One of my favorite towns on the Oregon Coast is Newport, OR (pop. 10,393).

Last weekend, my roommate and I finished up the last of our finals and drove over to Newport to spend the afternoon. We drove into the little town famished so we Googled the nearest hole-in-the-wall seafood café (being broke college students, we can't always afford to go to the bigger fancier restaurants available in Newport).

We found the Sail-Inn Café, which doubles as an inn that provides nightly rentals. Run by a small but extremely friendly Asian woman, all by herself mind you, this little café overlooked the sailboat marina right across the street and was decorated with things like old vintage records (a box of said records were even for sale at $5 a piece).

The food was extremely reasonably priced, you could get a full meal for under $10 and if you wanted something a little nicer the most expensive thing on the menu was still under $20. This was an amazing deal for fresh-caught seafood. My roommate and I ordered the fish and chips at the encouragement of a Yelp review online that had said the dish was to die for. It did not disappoint and was delicious and quick.

Another favorite restaurant of mine would have to be the South Beach Fish Market. They feature any kind of seafood you could ever want, all fresh! You can even get fresh LIVE crab! Cutely decorated and nestled on the Coast Highway, this is where you'll want to go if you want some of that famous delicious clam chowder (featuring nickel size pieces of fresh clam and thick thick yummy chowder). Spend $8 on a bowl of this chowder and be full for practically the rest of your trip, it really fills you up and is amazing to eat on cold rainy days.

Row, row, row your sailboat...

After grabbing a bite to eat, we visited the sea lions and enjoyed the beautiful view of the Yaquina Bay Bridge. If you don't know where to look for sea lions, just walk along Bay Blvd. in Newport and you can hear them from down the street. Follow the sounds and you will find the cute 1,000 pound full-grown and juveniles males sunbathing themselves on the docks.

Oceans, and Beaches, and Sea Lions—Oh My!

Wanna see some sea creatures but don't want to pay the admission fee for the aquarium? Head over to the Hatfield Marine Science Center for Oregon State University. Admission is "free" though they do encourage a donation to go towards funding the research center. They have a lot of really cool features such as a touch tank, a tsunami simulator, many many different kinds of sea creatures, and more! This is a really cool place to go if you're trying to save money on a trip but still want to see some creatures and get some cool fish pictures! You can bring in your camera, but you do have to keep the flash off so as not to scare the animals.

After walking down Bay Blvd., exploring the tourist shops, and getting your fill of seafood, head down to the beach! We love to save the beach till the end of the day because sunsets make for the best photos, especially if you bring a friend to use them as a photo model. Silhouette photos are a must on the beach and are surprisingly easy to create with the light at this time of day (the sun loves to rest right on the horizon from 5-7 PM in the spring).

Breathtaking Beauty

Walking on Sunshine

Add a Little Fog

Just make sure you pack a sweatshirt, a jacket, AND a turtle neck because the Oregon Coast is cold about 75% of the time. Not to mention windy and sometimes rainy. The pictures are worth it so bundle up and hope that you go on a sunny day. If you don't get great weather, that's okay too! Rain, fog, and even the wind blowing the wet sand across the beach make for amazing photos!

Cold Feet?

So when you're planning your next trip, try out the Oregon Coast. This little tourist town of Newport has so much to offer and is overall and amazing destination for landscape photography with so many aesthetics to choose from.