Santa Barbara, California 1977

"Santa Barbara, California" is a black and white photograph by American photographer Henry Wessel, created in 1977. This iconic piece, part of Wessel's acclaimed "California" series, showcases his characteristic style of capturing the quiet beauty of everyday life. The image features a lone figure standing in a grassy expanse, a lone palm tree in the center, with birds in flight, their shadows cast on the sidewalk below. Wessel's keen eye for composition and light, as seen in this work, helped define his contribution to the New Topographics movement in photography.