One Photograph: The Fences at Fort Ross

The Pacific Coast Highway between Bodega Bay and Fort Ross is not for the faint of heart. The road barely seems to hang on to the cliffs here and sometimes pieces of it give up and fall into the ocean. More than once, in my decade of living on the coast, I’ve driven this route and found the ocean side lane closed and passage limited to one lane. It’s a driver’s road for sure, the journey being as much of a reward as the destination.

Fort Ross, an active fort from 1812 to 1842, was the southern most settlement in the Russian colonization of the Americas. Today, it is a state historic park. I try and visit at least once a year, not so much for the history, but to spend time along this stunning stretch of Northern California coastline and make some photographs.

There are miles and miles of deteriorating wooden fences in the park. I came across this section that seems to almost slip over the edge and go into the Pacific. I made this photograph with my Nikon F4, 50mm f/1.4 AF-D Nikkor on Kodak Portra 400 with the camera set at 200 ISO.