Big Sur is part of who I am and who I’ve been for most of my life.
Growing up Big Sur was always part of my geographic memory. I can’t recall first learning about Big Sur and can’t recall my first visit as a young child in the arms of my parents. Having been born and raised in the Bay Area, north of Big Sur, I’ve enjoyed many trips to the coastline where the Santa Lucia Mountains meet the Pacific Ocean.
It’s somehow always been to the south of where I grew up.
When I first began pursuing photography to take a picture of the Milky Way, I returned to Big Sur.
Seeing Rogelio Bernal Andreo astrophotos of McWay Falls with the Milky Way I too wanted to make photographs like that. I still want to make pictures like Rogelio. He is a master of his craft and after many years pursues new photos with passion and skill.
My second evening pursuing astrophotography was spent at McWay Falls, exploring my abilities. The camera was foreign to me but with notes on the right settings, I set up the first shot of the evening.
I wasn’t alone. Two other photographers were there also chasing the stars with cameras and tripod. They were encouraging and helpful, two friends exploring Big Sur at night, making photos.
It was a magical night that went by fast. But there were moments that felt wonderfully like an eternity. Seeing the camera screen light up with the galactic center above McWay Falls was surreal. The planning paid off and I was hooked and an obsession was born.
Astrophotography lead to a more traditional pursuit of landscape photography during the daytime. While astrophotography remains an interest, for now, and I imagine for some time, morning till evening is when I make photographs. Night time is for sleeping.
After 5 years of photography, I endeavored to advance my skills and artistic vision with photography, to develop my own creative habits and abilities and again I went south to the Big Sur coast. A rich landscape where the source of Big Sur’s magic is the interaction of the Santa Lucia Mountain range and the Pacific Ocean. The Santa Lucia Range of mountains descend sharply into the Pacific Ocean The drama of tide and stone is a powerful testament to the great beauty of the world and the particularity of the natural world.
Mixed wood forests, deep canyons, mountain peaks, rivers, meadows, beaches, cliffs all harmoniously organized according to the great patterns of the natural world invite exploration.
The coastline is well-visited due to coastal Highway 1. This thin winding road gives everyone easy access to many great vista points once guarded by a rugged terrain. Now that rugged austere terrain is simply gained and experienced by car. And with this ease of access, many more treasures in the mountains are ignored by most everyone.
While many photographers work to capture the majesty of the Big Sur coast, far fewer explore the wilderness areas within the Santa Lucia Mountains. The wild landscapes within the Santa Lucia Mountains became my default place for advancing my photography.
Thankfully I was not the first to fall in love with the contours of the Big Sur beyond the coast. Many hikers, climbers, runners, and campers have left behind trails, official and unofficial, maps, and some photos too. There are many communities of people working to preserve access to these wild areas. I am deeply grateful to people such as Jack Glendening, Paul Danielson, and more, who maintain a tradition of volunteer efforts to preserve access to Big Sur and share knowledge. Their efforts alongside others create and maintain maps of Big Sur, maintain trails, and advocate for recreational usage of these public lands.
Big Sur is a wonderful place to explore.
In some seasons there are carpets of spring flowers. Each breath for miles and miles is sweet and fragrant. And there are many places along the rivers, creeks, canyons, and waterfalls, that exist more perfectly than any photograph. The old-growth trees of oak, pine, redwood, manzanita and Monterey Cyprus are majestic and mysterious. Ancient Native American Indian sites, mountain peaks, beaches…
My love of Big Sur continues to grow.
Photographically, I am growing too. Seeking new perspectives, new techniques, and new inspirations I outlined a series of goals for my adventures:
Get to know the landscape of Big Sur so that it is familiar.
From a place of familiarity with locations and seasons, create.
With the photographs, create stories that reflect my love of Big Sur and art making and the learnings from my adventures.
I continue to pursue these goals. These goals may stretch over the next several decades.
I have no predetermined endpoint. It’s about the journey.
This newsletter is about exploring Big Sur and creativity.
You are invited to follow along.
All the photographs contained here are my own unless otherwise noted in the caption.
If you want to see more of my work, you can visit my website: