Storm Surf, Timber Cove, California

More About the Image:

During his time in San Francisco in the 1930’s, Ansel would make his way around Marin and Sonoma Counties to photograph.  In that era his subjects were more in line with his Group f/64 thinking – everyday objects like fences, buildings, cars, crosses – photographed from a close, very straightforward vantage.  He returned frequently in the 1950’s and 1960’s, this time making several photographs that highlighted the coastal terrain and the ocean’s edge.  Like the image here, these later photographs often featured the crashing and rolling waves, impressively articulated by the afternoon sun, as the main subject while the shadowed coastline was confined to the boarders of the frame.  Ansel would include this image in his Portfolio 4 about which he wrote, ‘In some [images], the essences of light and space dominate [. . .] and the luminous insistence of growing things.  Shape of nature, transformed into what the artist calls forms by the controlled eye and perceptive spirit, are presented here as the equivalents of experience.’ (P pg. undesignated)