Point Lobos

David Brown · May 10, 2014

Anyone with any sense of photographic history knows the work of Edward Weston. In his later life he lived near Carmel, CA on a piece of property named Wildcat Hill. (Indeed a hill next to Wildcat Creek.) The house is still there and occupied by grandson Kim Weston.

Down the road is Point Lobos State Reserve. The Westons (Edward and Brett, et al) were here often, and there are many famous images from the beaches and coves.

I have been to Point Lobos before, but this trip was more than a visit. My wife and I came to work - me with cameras, her with paint brushes. It's really hard to put into words the magic of this place. It is not necessarily because of Edward Weston. I think it must have had the same effect on him as it did us. However, he was able to come here many, many times.

Pick a beach. Stand in one place. Draw an imaginary circle 10-12 feet in diameter and start shooting in any or every direction. Look down, look around. There are photos everywhere.

Spent the day. Stayed past sundown when they were herding us out of the park.

Just magic ...

Richard S. (rich815) · May 10, 2014

I live not too far away but do not get there often enough. Spent a few hours recently there after a business conference nearby. It was indeed magical. Thanks for sharing.

Trail Images · May 10, 2014

Sounds like it was a great trip overall. Thanks for sharing the event, and your insight too.

Also, you're right.....

There are photos everywhere.

.....

BrianShaw · May 10, 2014

Yes, a beautiful place!

jp498 · May 10, 2014

I had a half day visit there and think I would have needed at least a week in the park which is not massive. It is a magical place. But it is far away and I have magical places nearby too.

David Brown · May 10, 2014

jp498 said:
I had a half day visit there and think I would have needed at least a week in the park which is not massive. It is a magical place. But it is far away and I have magical places nearby too.

Same here. I am a big advocate of "blooming where you're planted", i.e., you can take photos at home; and, this type of photography is not what I'm really doing anymore. None the less, I feel a great sense of artistic gratitude to EW and especially to Brett Weston, for the development of my vision. So, this was simply a pilgrimage to St. Edward of sorts.

However, once we got there, the magic really did take over and effect us both!

ROL · May 10, 2014

Is that selfie at Weston Beach?

David Brown · May 10, 2014

ROL said:
Is that selfie at Weston Beach?

Not a "selfie" - the wife took it.

But it is, of course, Weston Beach.

jp498 · May 10, 2014

I did a selfie of my dirty tanlined feet in the water as it was my first time in the Pacific ocean.

whlogan · May 10, 2014

I lived in Monterey/ Carmel/ Marina area for 27 years after the Navy was good enough to sent me to the Navy Postgraduate School in 1973-1975 and am still sad that I moved away. I used to go to the Lobos 3 to 4 times a week. What a special time for me. I helped Ansel Adams hold workshops there for a while from time to time and learned a very great deal. Cherish you time there.

Logan

RalphLambrecht · May 10, 2014

I'm em barrassed to saythat I've been thyere a few times and never came away with a picture worth printing.I'm sure it's me but the place does nothing for me.I miss what the fuzz is all about.

ROL · May 10, 2014

RalphLambrecht said:
I'm em barrassed to saythat I've been thyere a few times and never came away with a picture worth printing.I'm sure it's me but the place does nothing for me.I miss what the fuzz is all about.

Little known fact: The Westons took all the pictures, leaving nothing for anyone else. Frankly, I'd be more "em barrassed" that I couldn't find the delete key or spacebar on my keyboard.

ROL · May 10, 2014

David Brown said:
Not a "selfie" - the wife took it.

Indeed – a sub-variant known as the "wifie". There doesn't seem to be any way of avoiding those :

jp498 · May 10, 2014

Though it's well associated with the Weston's, you don't need their style to have fun photographing nature there. Yashica-C; (traveling light). There's enough coves and paths and variety you can find some places in any angle of light or time of day I'm sure.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/13759696@N02/7553735556/sizes/z/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/13759696@N02/7553737748/sizes/z/

ROL · May 10, 2014

jp498 said:

Now, how the heck did you get that stick to levitate?

Patrick Robert James · May 10, 2014

Point Lobos is a special place if you have read anything about Weston. The place just reeks of him. If you are familiar with his images, you see them all around you. I went there many times but I eventually stopped because I couldn't get a photo that didn't look like a Weston, and of course, they were second rate Westons at best. One fun thing I did there was to try to find rock formations on Weston beach to spell out his name. I found a few letters, but like many things in life, I never finished it. Here is what was going to pass for a W to get an idea of what the goal was-

The only problem I see with the portrait of you David is your camera is about 8 inches too small to be shooting at Point Lobos.... What would Eddie say?

grahamp · May 11, 2014

After my first visit to Pt Lobos, I could see why Edward Weston spent years there. There is so much in a small area, that it takes time to distil it to a set of photographs.

Tony Egan · May 11, 2014

I was there for a few days in 2009 and visited the very generous Kim and Gina and saw EW's dark room on Wildcat Hill. I found the house and remnants of Weston's presence quite inspiring but I am a bit more in Ralph's camp regarding Point Lobos. I took a few shots but nothing grabbed me by the throat. I did manage to stumble into a John Sexton workshop while I was there. Maybe this crowd got all the good ones that day and sucked all the energy out of it! Any Apuggers in this group?

Richard S. (rich815) · May 11, 2014

I did a "selfie" while I was there! Right on Weston beach:

...and with so much rich photographic heritage there it is hard to be inspired in only a short visit. One of the better ones I got from that day:

(in that second one I really wanted to capture that guy taking the photo of his girlfriend in the background there....)

bdial · May 11, 2014

Pt Lobos is one of my favorite places. It's easy to see how Edward and Brett spent so many years of their lives working around there without exhausting the possibilities, not to mention the countless others of us who've gone chasing the tripod holes.

Also had one of my odder encounters there, I was photographing close ups of rocks near Weston beach and a tourist walking along the trail asked me if I was seeing faces in the rock.
...well, no not really, just interesting patterns.

yulia_s_rey · May 11, 2014

Envy from the east coast. From all that I gather it must be an inspiring place. As an avid Steinbeck reader, the Monterey area is number one on my list next time I visit CA. Imagine what conversations he and Weston would have.

RalphLambrecht · May 11, 2014

book a workshop with John Sexton;he will take you there and findAA's tripod holes for you.There must be more photo ops in NYCthan at point Lobos.Ruth Bernhard demanded that students in her workshops took pictures no further than 30 feet from their beds;she had a good point;learning to see is better than learning to travel.She sometimes makes an appearance at John's work shops too!What an iconic lady!

langedp · May 31, 2014

Tony Egan said:
... I did manage to stumble into a John Sexton workshop while I was there. Maybe this crowd got all the good ones that day and sucked all the energy out of it! Any Apuggers in this group?
View attachment 87798

Not in this group but one just like it in 2007. His workshop was more about darkroom techniques than shooting in the field. This was the only field shoot of the whole week. I wasn't "inspired" that much that day but I've been back there since and can easily spend several days there.

cliveh · May 31, 2014

RalphLambrecht said:
book a workshop with John Sexton;he will take you there and findAA's tripod holes for you.

But wouldn't you want to find your own tripod holes?

jp80874 · May 31, 2014

David Brown said:
Anyone with any sense of photographic history knows the work of Edward Weston. In his later life he lived near Carmel, CA on a piece of property named Wildcat Hill. (Indeed a hill next to Wildcat Creek.) The house is still there and occupied by grandson Kim Weston.l:

The Weston house can be rented. An 8x10 Deardorff shooting friend and his wife stayed there recently. Kim spent a lot of time with them showing family work, library, talking about the family.

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John Powers

Point Lobos

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