Oregon coast

The Oregon coast is beyond doubt the most beautiful and most wisely developed stretch of shoreline in America. From the Columbia River to the California border, this magnificent continental boundary runs the full range of kinds of beauty - rugged headlands, small coves, sandy beaches, sheer cliffs, fragile estuaries, broad tideflats and dense rain forests. No other photographer spent so much of his life photographing and studying the coast as Ray Atkeson (1907-1990) and few Oregonians have spent so much time traveling its entire length. The result of his quest for beauty is shown in this selection of his full-color photographs, undoubtedly the most beautiful collection on the coast in existence. Here you will see the sunny days and the stormy days, the foggy mornings and the red evenings. There are the sea gulls and the sea lions, the contorted trees and tall, wild rhododendrons. For over four decades, Ray Atkeson's photos of Northwest subjects have made him an institution; his name has become synonymous with the beauty of the west Coast of America, and no other photographer has so successfully captured the unique beauty of this part of the continent. The text by Archie Satterfield (1933-2011), a Seattle-based author and journalist, traces the history of the Oregon coast, the developmental problems and the emotional highlights of any trip down the coast. Together, the photos and text constitute a song of praise for one of the North American Continent's natural wonders. It is a modern voyage of discovery you, the reader, will never forget.