This is the very first photograph that I remember taking in any kind of deliberate sense. I was on a road trip with my mother when I was about 15 years old, so this would have been in 1990. This was taken at a lookout spot just south of Alder Creek. I was using my mother’s Pentax ME-Super with either a 35mm or 50mm lens. This looks more like the 50mm to me. It’s not a particularly sharp image. I was hand-holding the camera and had no idea about things like shutter speed and camera shake. But, looking back, this is basically one photo that I have been basically taking over and over again for decades. Ocean, headland, coast. Here’s what this spot is looking like more recently, via Google maps:
2023 Google maps view of the same approximate location as the 1990 image above.
The Google maps view was taken from a little further north on the road. Mine was taken right from the spot where you pull off the road at the lookout. This will be a fun one to relocate and rephotograph next time I get a chance to head through Big Sur again.