Heavy Surf at Panther Beach in California
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/396ca8_e5c7217873b448dbaa018f9e4885719d~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_98,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/396ca8_e5c7217873b448dbaa018f9e4885719d~mv2.jpg)
Panther Beach, California coast, 2013. Photograph @ Stewart M. Green
Here's a cool photograph I shot back in June, 2013, for my book "Scenic Routes & Byways California's Pacific Coast," published by Globe Pequot Press that autumn.
That day I photographed the Big Sur coast, one of America's iconic coastal areas, and then drove north to Santa Cruz in the early evening. When I reached the rugged coast north of Santa Cruz, the heavy surf, pushed by strong westerly winds, was running high at Panther Beach.
I set up my tripod and Nikon on the edge of a vertical cliff and shot up the coast, where I found a young man perched above the Pacific maelstrom. His tiny human figure seemed to be conducting this magnificent and elemental symphony at the meeting of rock, sand, and surf.