Thor's Well (aka: Loki's Revenge) - a photo on Flickriver

(Also referred to as the Money Pit)

I spent last weekend on an amazing photo trip with some friends in the Pacific Northwest along the Oregon Coast, Columbia River Gorge and other locations around Portland, OR.

This shot is from a location known as Thor's Well. Research told us that you had to shoot this site around high tide, otherwise it is just a hole in the rocks. As luck would have it, on the first day of our trip high tide coincided with sunset. So off we went on the 3+ hour drive out to the location along the Oregon coast.

When we arrived, the tide was very much coming in and with a little time before sunset we headed out to scout a lighthouse location a little south of this spot (longest 11 miles in the history of man).

We arrived back in time to get into our waders and other water protective gear and make the short hike down to the site for sunset. As we stood there on the rock outcropping just alongside the Well, it was just as amazing as I had seen in research. Unfortunately I didn't leave with the shot I had in mind. I had taken a few test shots (this was my 3rd) to confirm camera setup and wave timing when the reason for the title happened.

A few moments after this shot was taken, one of those waves you can see in the distance reached us atop our rocky perch. Most everyone was successful in picking up their tripods and turning sideways into the wave to brace for the impact but that wasn't enough for me. As the wave hit, my gear and I went down onto the rocks and into the tidal pool behind us.

Other than feeling ridiculous and embarrassed there was no physical injury of any kind. I'm pretty sure the reason I got dunked though was because I still had my backpack on increasing the surface area impacted by the wave. But I think the backpack also cushioned my fall on the rocks eliminating any physical injury of consequence.

The same could not be said for my D810 however, which did not survive the fall and it's submersion in salt water. I did all the usual things for recovery after that but it seemed that my D810 was fried only 17 frames into a weekend photo outing. While I had my backup D750 with me, the conditions were not improving so I had to settle for this being my only usable shot from the location. A very disappointing result given what I was hoping for.

The next morning I found a replacement D810 at a local camera shop in Portland (at least there was a $300 instant rebate to take the edge off) and we continued on with a weekend of amazing shooting all around the area.

The swan diving D810 was shipped off to Nikon for evaluation on Monday to see if it's repairable at a reasonable cost or if I now own a very expensive monument to the trip.

Protected with PIXSY

Taken in: United States / Oregon / Lincoln (show map)

Taken on: May 13, 2015

Tags:

Thor's Well

Oregon

Loki's Revenge

Nikon D810

coastline

tide

waves

Thor

Well

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Sets appears in: • Oregon 2015

Groups appears in: • Seascapes and Seashores • Sunsets & Sunrises around the world (We Rock Again!) more » • Travel Photography • Landscape Exploration • Oregon Coast - a Flickr group • oregon coastal • Landscapes!!! • We travel the World • Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 AF-S • Nikon -- D810 « less

Camera: Nikon D810, f/11.0, 1/80 sec, 19mm, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D810
Lens:	14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture:	f/11.0
Exposure Time:	0.013 sec (1/80)
Focal Length:	19mm
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Scene Capture Type:	Landscape
Gain Control:	Low gain up
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6.0 (Macintosh)
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