More About the Image:
Ansel Adams made this image near Santa Barbara, California. While the negative date varies, 1946 is the most accepted. Two years later, Ansel would include this image in his Portfolio 1, dedicated to Alfred Stieglitz. Of the twelve prints included in that set, Ansel said he thought ‘I selected them a little bit on Stieglitz's reaction to them,’ although several accepted negative dates were after the former’s passing. (OH pg.445) Many of the compositions are ‘distinctly western’ in location – Alaska, Hawaii and California (NA pg. 157). A number also feature bolt upright resolute and staid subjects – Mt. McKinley, a Black Oak, a prickly saguaro, blinding white marble and clapboard facades – that are perhaps a reflection of the famously taciturn dedicatee. Of the images, Refugio Beach is more contemplative. Ansel’s position above a creek as it makes its final turns into the Pacific Ocean implies a place to sit and ponder. The traditional horizon line likewise gives us a vanishing point to focus our ruminative gaze. There is something very intimate and grand all at once in the scene – an appropriate metaphor for Ansel’s feelings towards his friend and mentor.
