When I walk with a camera nudging my hip, it is as if I have an extra eye, beyond the two through which I habitually sample the world. I continue to see as I always do, universally--everything, entirely, sighing, celebrating.

But in the presence of the camera--its weight, its possibilities--I also look differently. I look more closely. I frame things. I examine the light. I follow edges. I ponder the wholeness of small things. I find patterns both small and large. I make connections--sky to hills to water. I follow paths out of sight and consider the best way to give them an air of secrecy, of longing.

I am made sharper, more aware in this exercise, this winnowing and focus. I see things as they are, then plot how to shoot them to make them appear more than that--to heighten, tighten, refresh and gentrify.

What is there is what is there. But can it also be augmented? That is the challenge. That is the fun.

its name or location, however, I've been frustrated on each of our subsequent trips. I have not been able, search as I might, to pinpoint it.

It finally occurred to me that, using the photographs I took in 2010, I might be able to identify the location by comparing my shots to pictures I might find on the Internet. What a brilliant idea--and why didn't I think of it earlier? 

Today I undertook that search. And voila, soon I had the answer I've been looking for for over a decade. The beach in question turns out to be Ariya's Beach, and is about 8 miles south of the town of Gold Beach. below are the comparisons of my photos with the ones I found that verify the location.

I definitely know where I'm going next time I'm in Oregon.