Sunrise, sunset, ship in the river

Published 9:00 am Tuesday, January 21, 2025

The annual Coast Weekend Photo Contest issue is here, and with it what I called on the cover two years ago “a sea of images.”

Many of the frames are by now familiar to locals. The sun rises over Saddle Mountain. People walk past Clark’s Tree on the Discovery Trail. A Roosevelt elk grazes in a green meadow.

Others were taken at just the right moment. In this year’s first-place photo, light pours in under the forest canopy as a dog named Amigo takes a rest by a puddle. In second place, a lone surfer exits the waves between two rocks.

But is that what makes a photo the best? Is it timing, composition, exposure, color?

In a sea of images, in this contest and the wider world of endless scrolling, what makes for a great photo? Perhaps it’s just a simple memory, a point of view to share.

This year, many entries fortunately came with extended captions, telling the story of how they came about.

“I went out for a run on the trails beneath the Column with my dog, Bristol, and my neighbor’s dog, Amigo,” wrote Astoria resident Bob Bogar of this year’s winning photo. “He posed for me perfectly.”

Of the People’s Choice Award winner, “Pileated Woodpecker,” Eric Wesley wrote, “At Cape Disappointment, I got lucky to see this pileated woodpecker land on a tree and start hammering away. It was the closest I’ve ever seen one.”

A little bird and a dog in the sunlight, memories of coastal life to share.