The Dawn Treader

This was an evening of variety and experiences!

Let me tell you about it... 

Oh, but before you cry "fake"- my thanks go to the fishing captain working all night taking his boat up and down the coast. 

Tuesday nt was looking to be the magic clear night in the Mon-Wed sunny forecast. But, I had agreed weeks prior to accompany Valorie to a formal social event here in Portland that evening.

She saw the clear forecast and without me saying anything, asked, "so... you gonna ditch me for stars tonight?"  

Laughing, I replied, "No! ... I may just go out after..." and left it at that. 

So, the social event was being called a "Vintage Ball." Valorie wore a sexy dress and hair/face net piece, and I went with grey slacks and vest. Fancied up, we headed out for a hoity toity good time. Got there at 6 and proceeded to nibble on
hors d'œuvre, sip cocktails, mingle, and enjoy the festivities. It was an impressive event and good crowd, but we had our full early, and so left around 8. When we got home, stepping out of the car, and looking up- I unintentionally let out a "aaaooohhh..."

Valorie asked, "What is it Boyfriend?" 

Ben says, "oh. uhm.. nothi-..uhm... the stars. They're beautiful" 

-Let me jump back in here, normally Valorie is very supportive of my star madness and is the first to push me out the door to go shooting. But, there's some nights it's good for me to go shoot, and other nights it's best not to bring it up and stay home to rent a movie and cuddle her on the couch. Slowly I'm learning which nights are which! I figured, my girlfriend in a fancy dress, heels, and facenet isn't a good time to dash into the house to load the camera gear and disappear hours to the coast to stay out all night. So, I ... hemmed and hawed. 

Ben: "uhmm.. it's.. you know.. stars.. clear night.. Winter... Oregon.. stars..."

Valorie, looking up also: "Yeah, they're much brighter tonight than usual" 

Ben, looking up: "...yeah..."

Valorie: "So where are you going to go?" 

Ben: "Go? ...oh, uhm.. I'm not sure I'm going to go...but... maybe the Coast..."

Valorie: "Ooo. ...I'll go with you." 

Ben: "...you will?!" 

Valorie: "Yeah, I'm going to shoot a timelapse on the beach with a glowing tent and the waves. It'll be prettyful." 

Ben: "....yeah..that would.. hmm.. tent and waves timelapse?... wow. yeah it would!" 

Valorie: "So lets go change and get out of here."

Ben: "...OHHK!" 

So, merely hours after being fancied up, wined and dined downtown, we found ourselves in puffy warm snowpants and jackets rather than facenets and grey vests, on a moon and starlit sandy Oregon Coast. The stars were crystal clear and gorgeous. The moon was about 2/3's and about an hour from setting. The waves gently roared in front of us, a chilly breeze blew over our warm clothing, and fishing boats zipped back and forth out across the water. 

We made a few stops at places, then spent the majority of the night at Haystack Rock on Cannon Beach. Valorie immediately went to work setting up her tent and waves timelapse. No one seeing us would have guessed the marshmellowy puffy clothes people on the beach at 2am taking pictures of tents and the dark ocean had come from a social Ball back in Portland with facenetting and grey vests- *laughing* 

It was a fun night of shooting, both of us doing our own thing, flashing headlamps at each other to find out where the other was on the dark, loud coast. 

We called it a night around 4am and headed back home. 

A construction detour doubled the normal drivetime, so as we pulled in the driveway at 7.30am my roommate waved us goodbye on his way to work. Oi. The madness of chasing stars all night.. 

So, that was how we spent our rare night of clear weather last week :-) 

Here's Valorie's timelapse <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/valorieshay/5432041550">here</a>