Pt. Sur, Storm

More About the Image:

Ansel Adams would refer to the Big Sur Coast, from near his home in the Carmel Highlands south to San Simeon, as the ‘greatest meeting of land and ocean.’ (AAM) In his image Point Sur Storm, the jutting land mass and crashing waves seem to meet with a consequential monumentality. The brilliant, rolling waters of the ocean, churned up by a threatening Pacific tempest meet the staid and rooted coast with authority. Both subjects are presented at a distance, looking down from a perched perspective not unlike a viewing platform or skybox; we are watching a performance, an allegory of persistence.  Similarly, one of Ansel's last determined fights on the conservation front was to designate the threatened Big Sur region as a nationally protected land to preserve the spectacular California coast for all generations. While not successful during his lifetime, there is now a virtually contiguous area of protected lands from Carmel to south of Lucia. The foresight that Ansel had to value the area and try to protect it from over-development was instrumental in making this a reality.