Nehalem Spit, Tillamook County, Oregon Possibly 2000 - 2009

Robert Adams made this photograph of Nehalem Spit in Tillamook County, Oregon. It’s so gray, so still, so quiet. I can imagine Adams out there, the sand cold and damp under his feet. The water looks like it’s holding its breath, reflecting the sky like a mirror, except the sky is just as muted. It’s a study in subtlety, almost monochrome but not quite. The horizon line is soft, blurred where the sea meets the sky. It reminds me of some of Hiroshi Sugimoto’s seascapes but more somber. I wonder what he was thinking, standing there, capturing this scene? Maybe he was drawn to the stillness, the quiet drama of a world stripped down to its essentials. It’s like he’s saying, “Look, there’s beauty here, even in the quiet, muted tones, even in the absence of the spectacular.”