The Atlantic, Schoodic Point, Acadia National Park, Maine

More About the Image:

Ansel Adams made this image in 1949 during one of his Guggenheim Fellowships and after the conclusion of the Mural Project that saw him travel throughout the west photographing (among other things) the National Park and Monuments.  The scene as presented by Ansel is unassuming; it seems effortless.  But in reality, the artist’s determination is correlated to the challenge for proper anticipation of the incoming or receding waves.  Similar to Ansel’s famous Surf Sequence, this image would have required ‘precise judgement’ and impeccable timing in the release of the shutter. (E pg.23)  We are given only a hint of the coastline in the lower left corner, most of it overtaken by the sea.  The lightly blurred waves, accomplished through Ansel’s choice of a complimentary shutter speed, imbues a portion of the image with a charged current bolting by at our feet that seems to flow off the page with great determination.  The rest of the image seems cold yet rankled, almost mysteriously, by comparison.  Ansel was looking forward to traveling in Maine during October in the hopes that he would get to photograph great storms with their corresponding waves and epic light; his hopes never fully materialized. (AB pg.180)  But the trip did make him ‘aware of the essential beauty of the Maine coast [. . .] almost Arctic in mood [with] a hoary patience above a restless ocean.’  (AB pg.180)  One year after it was made, this image was also included in Ansel’s Portfolio 2, ‘The National Parks and Monuments.’