Joey Priola Wilderness Photography

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  • While wandering Long Beach one evening at the tail end of an emotionally-charged day, I scrambled up a rocky headland hoping to escape the thoughts that wouldn't get off my mind, and to watch the sunset in the process. Atop the headland, I discovered an array of pretty spring wildflowers that were basking in the glorious sunshine after a long and wet Pacific Northwest winter. Just as I settled in myself to enjoy the renewing warmth of the sun, a bird began to circle overhead, and together we watched the sun cast the final warm rays of the day over the mighty Pacific. Pacific Rim National Park, British Columbia.
    Birds of a Feather
  • A soft pastel sunrise illuminates the sky and ocean surrounding Heceta Head Lighthouse on the Oregon coast.
    Beacon
  • A colorful sunrise during a memorable stay on British Columbia's Long Beach, in Pacific Rim National Park.
    May This Last Forever
  • The post-sunset glow illuminates the ripples of Cedar Creek as it flows towards the Pacific Ocean. Olympic National Park, Washington.
    Dragon Scales
  • A rocky headland draped with wildflowers and moss near Cape Perpetua, Oregon extends out into the mighty Pacific. Look closely and you'll see some cormorants perched atop the headland.
    Safety in a Dangerous World
  • Interesting patterns in the sand along a rocky section of Long Beach at sunset. Pacific Rim National Park, British Columbia.
    Delusions
  • Waves crash in a chasm in the volcanic rock at Cape Perpetua, Oregon, on a beautiful spring evening. When the waves crash just right, a plume of spray gets shot up through a hole in the rock, as seen in the top center of this photo, and is affectionately known as "spouting horn".
    Sound the Horn
  • A beautiful winter sunset along the dramatic coast at Rialto Beach. Olympic National Park, Washington.
    Fireworks
  • A tangle of kelp rests on Shi Shi Beach at sunset, in the shadow of a large sea stack. Olympic National Park, Washington.
    Castles and Kelp
  • The motion of rushing waves seems to mimic the curve of the clouds, during a phenomenal sunset along a deserted stretch of coastline in Olympic National Park, Washington.
    Sunset Swirl
  • Stars shine over offshore sea stacks on a remote section of coastline in Washington's Olympic National Park. In November of 1920, the Chilean schooner W.J. Pirrie was being towed towards the Washington shores when a brutal storm hit the pair of ships, forcing the towing vessel to abandon the Pirrie. The ship was no match for the tempest, and 18 of the 20 crew members were killed. Their bodies washed up on the very beach where this photo was taken, and if you search in the woods behind the beach, you'll find a plaque memorial for the victims.
    Spirits In the Night
  • Elephant seals snuggle up on the beach in Piedras Blancas State Marine Reserve and Marine Conservation Area.
    Snuggle Time
  • An iconic California view of Bixby Creek Bridge spanning Bixby Canyon along the incomparable Big Sur coast.
    Passage to Summer
  • Receding waves, caught by pebbles on Kalaloch Beach, streak back towards the sea during a beautiful winter sunrise. Olympic National Park, Washington.
    Return to Me
  • Clouds and the sea glow with beautiful light and colors after a phenomenal sunset. Olympic National Park, Washington.
    Afterglow
  • Sunset light illuminates sea stacks and weathered rocks on the beach in Washington's Olympic National Park.
    A Moment in the Sun
  • A hardy tree that has somehow managed to grow from the top of a sea stack at Point of the Arches takes in a fantastic November sunrise. Shi Shi Beach, Olympic National Park, Washington.
    Roots
  • Waves crash and spray in a rocky chasm at Pfeiffer Beach. Big Sur, California.
    Power
  • Waves crash through the keyhole arch at Pfeiffer Beach after sunset. Big Sur, California.
    Persistence
  • Starry skies over my tent along the beautiful coast of Washington's Olympic National Park.
    Spirit of Adventure
  • Quite possibly the most beautiful coastal sunset I’ve ever experienced, taken during one of my all-time favorite backpacking trips (20 miles along the rugged Olympic Coast from Rialto Beach to Ozette Lake). My numb legs from standing in the frigid winter surf to get this perspective were soothed by a driftwood beach fire and some family wine. Olympic National Park, Washington.
    Gods of Olympus
  • For one reason or another, it’s just hard to crawl out of bed on some mornings. Or, in the case of the morning this photo was taken, a sleeping bag. It was a damp and chilly dawn on the Washington coast, and I was still feeling weak from a bad stomach bug I’d suffered through the previous week. The thought of rolling over and burrowing deeper into my sleeping bag seemed heavenly, but I knew that I hadn’t traveled here to sleep. I can’t recall when it first happened, but on mornings like this throughout my travels, where the pull of the warmth and comfort of my tent seemed to be stronger than my desire to get out for sunrise, I had begun to recite a mantra of sorts in my head: “if you don’t go, you won’t know.” Maybe the sunrise would be a dud, but if I didn’t get out there to see for myself, I would never know what possibilities I might miss out on. So on this morning, I extracted myself from my cocoon of warmth and comfort, slipped into wet boots and dirty clothes, and struck out for the beach. On summer weekends, Shi Shi Beach can often be lined with hundreds of tents, but on this soggy November morning, the only creatures I shared the beach with were seagulls looking for breakfast. As I wandered about in the dim light of dawn, I could see a faint glow building in the sky to the east, over the forested slopes of the OIympic Peninsula. As the glow intensified, I settled on a composition, and all of a sudden the sky erupted into possibly the most vivid and colorful sunrise that I’ve ever seen. After the show was over, I wandered up and down the beach, admiring the patterns in the sand, the piles of driftwood, and the ceaseless sound of waves heaving against the shore. Eventually I made my way back to my tent, where I joyfully slipped back into my sleeping bag, fully at peace with what I now knew, after I had gone.
    If You Don't Go, You Won't Know
  • A rock and seaweed rest on the purple sands of California's Pfeiffer Beach. The unique purple sand at Pfeiffer Beach comes from manganese garnet found in the nearby hills, which gets washed down to the beach below. Big Sur, California.
    Psychedelic
  • An intimate view of a sea anemone I found in one of the many tide pools at Point of the Arches. The opportunity to view sea life such as sea anemones and starfish in a wilderness setting is one of the many reasons why the coast within Washington’s Olympic National Park is one of my favorite destinations for backpacking and photography.
    Medusa
  • Low tide at Point of the Arches reveals a tide pool filled with colorful starfish and sea anemones. The opportunity to view sea life such as sea anemones and starfish in a wilderness setting is one of the many reasons why the coast within Washington’s Olympic National Park is one of my favorite destinations for backpacking and photography.
    Vibrancy
  • On our final day of a backpacking trip along the wilderness coast of Washington’s Olympic National Park, my friends and I ventured south from our camp at Point of the Arches. After climbing over rocky headlands and through pristine temperate rainforest high above the sea, we arrived at a deserted little cove between the headlands. At first this beach seemed just like all the others we had passed by, but upon closer inspection we discovered that the beach consisted of a seemingly infinite assortment of small, smooth pebbles of all different colors. We spent the afternoon lounging in the sunbaked pebbles, and exploring the intricacies of a world that often goes undetected. I used a shallow depth of field here to create an abstract expression of the pebbles, with only a slice being in focus and the rest fading into featureless colors and patterns.
    Pebble Feel
  • The rocky orange shoreline at California's Salt Point State Park was the perfect complement to the dark blue sea on this cloudy evening. Once an ancient sea bed that was uplifted to the surface, the sedimentary rock that forms the shore at Salt Point has been weathered into all kinds of beautiful shapes and colors. While it's hard to imagine today, rock from the shoreline at Salt Point was harvested in the 1800s and used  to construct some of the earliest city streets in San Francisco.
    Risen
  • Sunset light strikes the face of a massive sea stack along the Olympic Coast on a moody November evening, just steps away from one of my all-time favorite backcountry campsites. Olympic National Park, Washington.
    We Three Kings
  • The setting sun illuminates the beautiful rocky shore at California’s Montaña de Oro State Park. Millions of years ago, the sedimentary rock of the Montana de Oro coast was an ancient sea floor. When tiny fragments of once-living organisms drifted to the bottom of the sea, they mixed with silt and sand, forming mudstone over time. The mud then solidified into thick layers of sedimentary rock, and now forms the rocky, striated coast at Montaña de Oro.
    Web Gem
  • Waves lap at the purple sand of Pfeiffer Beach on a beautiful June evening. The unique purple sand found at Pfeiffer Beach comes from manganese garnet found in the hills above the beach, which gets washed down to the beach below. Big Sur, California.
    Getaway
  • A colorful starfish rests on the rocky coastline amongst the towering sea stacks at Point of the Arches on Shi Shi Beach. Olympic National Park, Washington.
    Son of Shi Shi
  • Pelicans and cormorants soar over, and cling to, a gigantic sea stack near False Klamath Cove at sunset. Redwoods National Park, California.
    Chaos Theory
  • Rippled sand leads towards a massive sea stack at Point of the Arches on Shi Shi Beach. Olympic National Park, Washington.
    Sand Castles
  • Starfish, sea anemones, and kelp adorn the rugged coastline at Point of the Arches on Shi Shi Beach. Olympic National Park, Washington.
    Mysterious Dawn
  • A lone starfish clings to the underside of a boulder as it waits for the tide to come in. Pacific Rim National Park, British Columbia.
    Tides of Time
  • A sunflower sea star crawls along the sand in the shallow water of a coastal tide pool in the backcountry of Washington's Olympic National Park. Watching this sea star scuttle about was one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had in the wilderness, and I feel incredibly lucky to have had it. Beginning in 2013, the year that I took this photo, a mysterious sea star wasting disease coupled with rising ocean temperatures has virtually wiped the once prolific sunflower sea star out of existence on the North American West Coast.
    Ode to Ned
  • Two of my all-time favorite places for coastal exploration and photography are Washington's Olympic National Park and Maine's Schoodic Peninsula. The sea stacks that are characteristic of the Olympic Peninsula, and the beautiful cobble beaches that can be found along the Schoodic Peninsula in Acadia National Park, make both of these places among the most scenic coastal destinations that can be found in the USA. While wandering the  Schoodic Peninsula one morning, I discovered this sea stack rising up from a cobble beach that combined my favorite aspects of both peninsulas, as if this sea stack had traveled the 3,000+ miles from the Pacific Coast to join me in Maine on this special morning.
    Acadia Meets Olympic
  • An abstract rendition of ocean waves, created by moving my camera from side to side during the exposure. Kalaloch Beach, Olympic National Park, Washington.
    Sea Dreams
  • Surf pours down a hole in the shelf of volcanic rock at Cape Perpetua known as “Thor’s Well” while in the background the next wave rolls in. Getting to this vantage point requires good timing and steady nerves, as approaching the Well at higher tides is more or less a suicide mission, and even at lower tides rogue waves can pose a real danger. On the last morning that I camped in the area, the low tide coincided with sunrise, and I lucked out with some beautiful light. Watching the waves crash and then spill down while standing only a few feet away was an exhilarating and memorable experience.
    Go Ask Alice
  • Sea foam and pebbles on Kalaloch Beach. Olympic National Park, Washington.
    Fingers Through Your Hair
  • Two starfish cling to the rocks and each other as they wait for the tide to come in again. Olympic National park, Washington.
    Holding On
  • Receding waves rush back out to sea at Ruby Beach, as a lone sea stack looks towards the pastel twilight sky. Olympic National Park, Washington.
    Sunken Wizard
  • A peaceful summer sunset along the rugged coast near False Klamath Cove. Redwoods National Park, California.
    Dino Eggs
  • When I close my eyes and daydream of past adventures, this is what I see - a beautiful sunset, wilderness all around, and an endless vista that beckons me to keep exploring. Olympic National Park, Washington.
    Daydreams of my Youth
  • A lone sea lion calls out to his companions, as waves crash on the black volcanic rocks of the Oregon Coast. Cape Perpetua, Oregon.
    Calling Out
  • After a full day of kayaking along the west side of Washington's San Juan Island, my stomach was telling me it was time for a well-deserved burger and beer. Thankfully, something else inside me said that I would regret not heading out to Lime Kiln Lighthouse to watch the sunset as I had originally planned. I got to the lighthouse just in time, and found this spot along the shore where the crashing surf rose and fell. The clouds lifted just enough for the sun to light up the sky with a sunset so good that I forgot all about the burger and beer.
    The Key For Every Door
  • A wave crashes against volcanic rock at Cape Perpetua and sprays skyward at sunset.
    Reach For The Sky