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A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

Peter Figen
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

And two with the new 30mil t/s. Yeah. I never get tired of Bixby Bridge only this time no driving the Old Coast Road because Big Sur was fresh from over 15 inches of rain, nine in one day, but I did drive down Highway 1 and caught Pt. Sur and the old Pt. Sur Lighthouse and then back up to shoot the outside of Colton Hall in Monterey, the site of the first California Congress on the way to statehood, and also prominently featured in the move A Summer Place back in '56 I believe.

Learning the quirks of the 30mm t/s lens, and there are many but I'm starting to understand them. After half a century of view cameras and twenty years with Canon t/s lenses, this one is, well, let's just say it's different in how it all works. The supplied tripod mounting collar is both a blessing (mostly, and for shift) but a curse (entirely for tilt or swing). More to come from that soon.

Bixby Creek Bridge, CA 1 Big Sur, 1932

GFX100 II Fujifilm Fujinon GF30mm F5.6 TS lens 30mm f/11.0 1/125s 100 ISO 0.0 EV

Pt. Sur Lighthouse

GFX100S Fujifilm Fujinon GF45-100mm F4 R LM OIS WR lens 58mm f/11.0 1/320s 100 ISO 0.0 EV

Colton Hall, Monterey, Ca.

GFX100 II Fujifilm Fujinon GF30mm F5.6 TS lens 30mm f/11.0 1/125s 100 ISO 0.0 EV

Feb 16, 2024 at 09:17 PM

gregfountain
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

I can't help but imagine the meeting the state had with a group of contractors to explain a new bridge they wanted to build that would involve carving out a couple of large, rectangular footings into two sheer cliffs.

Anyway, great shots Peter, but I'm wondering if someone with your skills could clone out the power lines and poles? Just a thought....

The other two shots are pretty sweet as well, but the bridge sets my wanna-be engineer mind ablaze

Cheers!
Greg

Feb 16, 2024 at 10:54 PM

Peter Figen
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

gregfountain wrote:
I can't help but imagine the meeting the state had with a group of contractors to explain a new bridge they wanted to build that would involve carving out a couple of large, rectangular footings into two sheer cliffs.

Anyway, great shots Peter, but I'm wondering if someone with your skills could clone out the power lines and poles? Just a thought....

The other two shots are pretty sweet as well, but the bridge sets my wanna-be engineer mind ablaze

Cheers!
Greg

Greg - All of those bridges south of Carmel were built in '32, so I imagine they provided quite a few badly needed construction jobs at the time. And that was the largest single arch bridge in the world for quite a time after it was built. Such a beautiful simplicity that never disappoints.

Could I take out the lines. Sure, but they're just another part of the scenery for me and I kinda like them now.

Feb 16, 2024 at 11:04 PM

newyork
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

Leave the lines in. These are fabulous.

Feb 16, 2024 at 11:13 PM

gdanmitchell
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

Peter Figen wrote:
Greg - All of those bridges south of Carmel were built in '32, so I imagine they provided quite a few badly needed construction jobs at the time. And that was the largest single arch bridge in the world for quite a time after it was built. Such a beautiful simplicity that never disappoints.

Could I take out the lines. Sure, but they're just another part of the scenery for me and I kinda like them now.

The construction of that road is a very long and complicated story. The construction of the modern route actually used prison labor, in part.

As to the lines, FWIW, I’d prefer to see them magically disappear. But they could also simply be muted a bit so that stand out less. Your mileage may vary. ;-)

Dan

Feb 16, 2024 at 11:17 PM

Peter Figen
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

Years ago I used to remove the power lines but that was when I had a different attitude toward them or things like them. Today I just see them as part of the landscape that have been there for decades so removing them seems not quite right to me, and since this was shot in morning light where the sun was hitting them directly, they do reflect brightly, but I'm fine with that, plus, if you remove the lines then you also have to remove all the support structure for them or they make no sense. But if you go shoot on a different day, a different time of year or a different time of day and perhaps a different angle, it'll all look just a bit different. I encourage everyone to make the trek there, make your own images and drive the Old Coast Road, y'know, just because you can, and then you can see what it was like to get to Big Sur before the bridge was built.

Feb 17, 2024 at 03:57 AM

Danpbphoto
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

I still do on some images Peter! They are more huge telephone cables then power lines or steel reinforcing cables.

Great compositions and wonderful tones Peter!
Dan

Feb 17, 2024 at 10:44 AM

Peter Figen
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

Danpbphoto wrote:
I still do on some images Peter! They are more huge telephone cables then power lines or steel reinforcing cables.

Great compositions and wonderful tones Peter!
Dan

I hear you. In the case of Big Sur, the power lines are all part of the landscape to me, and I was amazed at how many were down on the side of the highway from the recent storms.

Feb 17, 2024 at 01:56 PM

Picture This!
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

Great shots (and bw is so apt) Peter !

Feb 20, 2024 at 12:11 PM

jeffbuzz
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

Excellent. Most times we think of shifting up for architectural corrections. Did you shift down for the bridge?

Feb 20, 2024 at 12:54 PM

Peter Figen
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

jeffbuzz wrote:
Excellent. Most times we think of shifting up for architectural corrections. Did you shift down for the bridge?

Jeff - Great question. I think you're right but I'd have to check the metadata to be sure. What I remember more is being able to see the curve of the earth in the horizon which makes the horizon run the tiniest amount down on the right with the camera level. The camera also records the amount of shift and rotation now with that lens so I'll check that.

Feb 20, 2024 at 01:01 PM

gdanmitchell
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

Peter Figen wrote:
Years ago I used to remove the power lines but that was when I had a different attitude toward them or things like them. Today I just see them as part of the landscape that have been there for decades so removing them seems not quite right to me, and since this was shot in morning light where the sun was hitting them directly, they do reflect brightly, but I'm fine with that, plus, if you remove the lines then you also have to remove all the support structure for them or they make no sense. But if you...Show more →

FWIW, I've shot that thing a lot of times — probably too many. I spend a fair amount of time in the Big Sur area. (May even go down there later today.)

Here's a Bixby shot where I decided to remove all that stuff. My feeling about it (and I'm open to alternative opinions!) is that the wires are "subjectively invisible" to me when I'm looking at the scene, so I don't think it is inappropriate to remove them. (Or, as a photographer friend of mine likes to say about such things, "Maybe they weren't always there.")

I didn't use a TS for this shot, but I suspect that I did adjust for line convergence in post along the lines mentioned above.

Funny thing: I've photographed Sur Point and the lighthouse lots of times, but I don't think I ever shot it straight on from that angle. I like it. (Give the typical colors in the foreground, I think one reason it works here is because it is monochrome.)

Dan

Feb 20, 2024 at 01:30 PM

Peter Figen
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

Dan - I still feel that the wires tell more of the story. After all, they had to get power down to Allen Funt's house and further and this tells that part of the story, and if go down there today, you'll see lots of downed power lines along the highway. It's possible that in your much tighter composition that those power lines might be distracting and most folks will never know they've been removed. It's also very very difficult to correct the bridge distortion correctly in Ps because those main support structures are not actually vertical and plumb, screwing up your perception.

Feb 20, 2024 at 02:20 PM

airfrogusmc
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

Hey Peter, Good series and I totally agree. Doing a lot of work on the street of course I agree with a documentary approach to the art form. It's there now the trick is how does one use whats there to make an interesting image. I think you have succeeded.

Feb 20, 2024 at 03:25 PM

Peter Figen
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

airfrogusmc wrote:
Hey Peter, Good series and I totally agree. Doing a lot of work on the street of course I agree with a documentary approach to the art form. It's there now the trick is how does one use whats there to make an interesting image. I think you have succeeded.

Thanks. I appreciate that. I can see how in Dan's shot they might come out and in mine maybe not.

Feb 20, 2024 at 04:09 PM

airfrogusmc
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

A great quote by Adams.

"Stieglitz would never say that certain objects of the world were more or less beautiful than others-telegraph poles, for instance, compared with oak trees. He would accept them for what they are, and use the most appropriate objects to express his thoughts and convey his vision."-Ansel Adams

Feb 20, 2024 at 04:24 PM

Peter Figen
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

airfrogusmc wrote:
A great quote by Adams.

"Stieglitz would never say that certain objects of the world were more or less beautiful than others-telegraph poles, for instance, compared with oak trees. He would accept them for what they are, and use the most appropriate objects to express his thoughts and convey his vision."-Ansel Adams

A great quote, but just when did we stop calling them telegraph poles? Wasn't that term pretty much gone by the early 20th century?

Feb 20, 2024 at 05:29 PM

Geoff D F
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

I think the telegraph came to lots of place before electricity. Not sure about the US, but most places in Australia were electrified by the 1920s and 30s. I'm guessing the term "telegraph poles" probably hung around for a while after the poles came to be used more for electricity.

As an ex civil engineer, I have an understanding of how such bridges are built and still marvel at them. Humankind certainly puts a lot of faith in maths and science!

Feb 20, 2024 at 06:01 PM

Peter Figen
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

Geoff D F wrote:
I think the telegraph came to lots of place before electricity. Not sure about the US, but most places in Australia were electrified by the 1920s and 30s. I'm guessing the term "telegraph poles" probably hung around for a while after the poles came to be used more for electricity.

As an ex civil engineer, I have an understanding of how such bridges are built and still marvel at them. Humankind certainly puts a lot of faith in maths and science!

Oh, without a doubt. I was just wondering how long the term lingered. But even telegraph required electricity, right? How was that supplied. Merle Haggard just referred to "the high line poles" in his songs.

Feb 20, 2024 at 06:05 PM

gdanmitchell
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · A couple from Big Sur and Monterey

Peter Figen wrote:
Dan - I still feel that the wires tell more of the story. After all, they had to get power down to Allen Funt's house and further and this tells that part of the story, and if go down there today, you'll see lots of downed power lines along the highway. It's possible that in your much tighter composition that those power lines might be distracting and most folks will never know they've been removed. It's also very very difficult to correct the bridge distortion correctly in Ps because those main support structures are not actually vertical and plumb,...Show more →

They might tell more of “a” story, but not more of “the” story.” There’s more than one story to tell with a subject like that — and while yours might be, mine isn’t about the wires. :-)

My “story” was about the bridge, but also about the cliffs and sea just beyond it. The receding and similarly angled headlands just south of the bridge have long intrigued me, and that’s part of why I cropped so tightly. In fact, the majority of my Big Sur work is “about” impressions of natural landscape and seascape.

I did realize that my composition was “tighter” and, I think, from a slightly higher camera position and a bit to the left of yours. It was actually difficult to find the right spot with the bridge being contained so tightly within the frame.

In terms of the landscape, yours is more about a broader view of the place of the bridge in the landscape, and shows more clearly how it spans the canyon beneath. I like your take, too, and it goes to show (once again) that there are multiple ways to work with almost any subject.

Another observation. I was brought up calling them “telephone poles” for some reason, even though they obviously also carried electrical wires. It has been a lifelong challenge to stop doing that — but now I usually manage to say “utility poles” or maybe “power poles.”

Dan

Feb 20, 2024 at 06:10 PM

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