A Look Into The Family Acid’s Photographs of '70s Big Sur
Photographed by Roger Steffens1/15Ric Masten, Poet Laureate of Big Sur, with his truck, Big Orange. Big Sur, California, 1978
Roger: “This was taken close to Carmel where Ric was raised. He was ordained by the Unitarian Church without having to got to seminary, and he married us.”
Mary: “When he married people, he had this big army blanket, and to virtually guarantee that you would never get divorced, he would have the couples crochet or embroider something in the blanket so if they ever wanted to come apart, they’d have to come to his house in Big Sur and undo what they did to the army blanket.”
Roger: “So Mary and I did a red, gold, and green YES.”
Mary: “We did it really small just in case we broke up.”
Photographed by Roger Steffens2/15Clare Francis in Point Lobos, CA. March 1974
Roger Steffens: “We went to Point Lobos in Big Sur just south of Carmel with Clare Francis, who is a British graphic designer. These sandstone cliffs, they’re the landscape Robert Louis Stevenson used to describe Treasure Island; and it looks like she’s leaping to her death, but she’s actually jumping to a ridge directly below. I always tell people ‘That’s Clare just minutes before…’ and then I wait for them to be appalled.”
Photographed by Roger Steffens3/15Double exposure, Corralitos, CA. August 1978
Roger: “I was trying to see photographically the way I was seeing when I tripped. That’s the key to understanding the motivation behind my double exposures. Tripping is a way of giving your brain a bath. Clearing out the cobwebs. Reigniting.”
Photographed by Roger Steffens4/15Mary Steffens in Mendocino, CA. June 1975.
Mary: “I remember Roger wanted to take my picture—most people, when they get their picture taken in scenery, they turn and face the camera and have a big smile like, Oh, here I am in such and such, and I remember saying to him that is so not real. Because what am I doing, I’m looking at this beautiful city in this beautiful place but with my back to it? So I made him take my picture with my back to him instead.”
Photographed by Roger Steffens5/15Running free along Bolinas Ridge. Marin County, CA. August 1976
Mary: “That is one of my all-time favorite pictures you’ve ever taken.”
Roger: “It was just before sunset as the fog was beginning to roll in. It’s just one of the most blessed places on earth. It takes you into another dimension.”
Mary: “That evokes such a sense of freedom to me. It’s carefree, it’s beautiful. They could be flying.”
Roger: “I was flying!”
