"But what's in the mountains?"

Earlier this week, OnLandscape published an essay of mine and a collection of photographs from my work in Big Sur!

Nov 29, 2024

Hey there, my name is Keith Evans, landscape photographer and writer. You can see my work at my photography portfolio website, and on Instagram. Subscribe to this newsletter where I share photographs and what I learn from adventures in the Santa Lucia Moutains and Big Sur, Ca.

Exciting news! Earlier this week OnLandscape published an essay and photograph collection I put together explaining my curiosity and intentions. It’s an honor to have my writing and photographs shared by the OnLandscape journal. I hold the editors in high regard for their own creative skills and perspectives on the art and science of landscape photography.

As they describe themselves:

Joe Cornish, Guy Tal, Rafael Rojas, Paul Gallagher, Tim Parkin, and many more. We try to cover some of the most common and important questions relating to landscape photography and will always be looking for new writing talent. And we want to make sure that talent covers as many bases as possible from romantic to fine art, from philosophy to practical fieldcraft, from beginner to experienced.

I’ve learned much from their interviews, articles, and selected photographs. Below I share the photos from the piece and the start of my essay, which you can read in full here:

https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2024/11/but-whats-in-the-mountains/

But What’s in the Mountains?

“But what's in the mountains?

Just cliffs and brush and rocks and dryness.

Were you ever there?

No.

Has anybody ever been there?

A few people, I guess. It's dangerous, with cliffs and things. Why, I've read there's more unexplored country in the mountains of Monterey County than any place in the United States." His father seemed proud that this should be so.

And at last the ocean?

But, the boy insisted, but in between? No one knows?

Oh, a few people do, I guess. But there's nothing there to get. And not much water. Just rocks and cliffs and greasewood. Why?

It would be good to go.

What for? There's nothing there.

Jody knew something was there, something very wonderful because it wasn't known, something secret and mysterious. He could feel within himself that this was so.”

~Excerpt from The Little Red Pony, by John Steinbeck

Big Sur is renowned for its beautiful, rugged coastline, where the Pacific Ocean meets the Santa Lucia Mountains. However, the features within these mountains are less known. For tourists and photographers, too, much of the beauty within these mountains is unknown, and compared to the Big Sur coastline, little creative photography emerges from the mountains. As photography became increasingly important for me, Big Sur became the primary place to explore both the landscape and my creative abilities. The Santa Lucia Mountains, as a subject for art making, are filled with unique, diverse opportunities to witness indescribable beauty.

Big Sur is renowned for its beautiful, rugged coastline, where the Pacific Ocean meets the Santa Lucia Mountains. However, the features within these mountains are less known.

I love returning to familiar landscapes to make them ever more familiar. Exploring landscapes again and again feels like I’m growing roots in the natural world. With photography, those roots seem to grow deeper and deeper.

Artists who cultivate long term relationships with particular geographies most inspire me. Ansel Adams, Morley Baer, Alexey Titarenko, Michael Light, Guy Tal, William Neill, Colin Prior, and many more honed their creative capacities by returning time and again to familiar places and themes. I aim to develop my own body of work, unfolding themes over time and creating art from a place of familiarity with places I love.

The coastline of Big Sur, though widely photographed, contains many, many opportunities for new creative work. And I love revisiting coastal Big Sur. But after some years of exploring the coast and a bit beyond, like the boy in Steinbeck's story, I wondered "what's in the mountains?”

So my focus turned up and eastward to the mountains of Big Sur. I began to study maps, books, photographs, forums, and blogs. Walking and scrambling up the trails, creeks, and dirt roads, became my primary focus in Big Sur. Both on-trail and off-trail adventures within the wilderness areas offer endless dynamic subject matter for photography.

There is a wealth of local knowledge about the Big Sur mountains.

People like Jack Glendening, the late Paul Danielson, and many others, support and preserve the wild qualities of the Santa Lucia Range and maintain recreational access for all. Forestry and state park staff, volunteers, donors, and tourists all contribute to the maintenance of the walking trails. A rich heritage of ecological responsibility and respectful participation with the Santa Lucia Mountains continues the efforts of Ansel Adams, Henry Miller, Robert Redfield, Clint Eastwood, Paul Danielson and others.

Wilderness access evolves year to year due to storms, fires, understory growth and erosion. Maintaining these trails requires significant effort, and there is not enough budget or foot traffic to support their full upkeep at present. Perhaps electronic devices keep the people of the pavement indoors more than in times past. There are a small handful of backcountry places that receive significant traffic, but many more are becoming lost and overgrown, and many more remain generally unexplored.

These mountains hold many treasures, both big and small. Some seasons there are so many spring flowers that sweet and fragrant floral notes fill each breath for miles and miles. I’d heard of ladybird aggregations but didn’t know that in remote locations some stretch for almost a mile along a creek, millions of ladybirds. Watching the sun set over a heavy marine layer blanketing the Pacific Ocean as I walk down a hillside into that blanket is a blessing each time.

There are many worlds within the world of Big Sur to explore.

Key avenues alongside the wilderness backcountry areas await further exploration by recreationists. Highway 1 is wonderful to drive but there are quite a few other access points to the backcountry that are equally as wonderful to explore and more diverse.

Check out OnLandscape for the full article:

https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2024/11/but-whats-in-the-mountains/

Would love to hear what you think in the comments!