The Most Photogenic Spot on the Oregon Coast

Back in 2018, we traveled to Oregon to meet up with a handful of other photographers. We spent time in Portland, and along the coast at Cannon Beach. During our last day in Oregon, we got pretty caught up in trying to find “this location” that had a great view of the coast. We had a bit of trouble finding the name of the location, but it seemed to include Haystack Rock – the key feature of Cannon Beach – so we knew we couldn’t be far off.

After a little digging around on Google Maps, we came to find out this spot was at Ecola State Park – just up the road.

It’s the type of location that feels like it should be highly popular in the landscape photography world, but from searching around online, there are really only a few notable shots.

The toughest part about photographing this viewpoint comes with the challenging weather that is present on the Oregon coast. As you can see from the photos we took while we were there, storm clouds, rain, and so on make for a fairly moody but bland series of photos.

With any luck, if you are planning to visit this area of the Oregon coast, we highly suggest keeping an eye on the weather. If you happen to have clear skies, or even visit during the Golden Hour light, we could imagine you getting a really spectacular photo with ease.

We took these photos on our Canon 70-200mm lens, within about 2 minutes walking distance from the parking lot. At the time of our visit, the edge of the cliff was essentially fenced off, so if you would want to use a wider angle lens you would need to find a different perspective.

All in all, this is just a small little post today to share this little bit of information for those of you in Oregon or planning to travel there in the future! There are so many great spots for photography around, but Ecola State Park has managed to hide away just up the road from Cannon Beach – one of the world’s most popular photography hotspots! It’s crazy to think!