Santa Ana River, San Bernardino County, California Possibly 1982 - 1999

Robert Adams made this photograph of the Santa Ana River in San Bernardino County, California. It’s a landscape, but not in the way we might expect. The bridge, a feat of engineering, cuts across a riverbed that seems almost desolate. I imagine Adams, setting up his camera, searching for the right angle to capture this scene. Was he thinking about the relationship between nature and human intervention? Probably. There's a quiet tension here. The muted tones emphasize a certain stillness, a sense of place marked by both natural beauty and human impact. The lone tree on the horizon almost whispers. Adams reminds me of those New Topographics photographers who, in their own way, were echoing earlier artists like the Bechers, finding poetry in the mundane. He's part of a larger conversation about how we see and document the world around us. His photograph embodies a quiet contemplation and invites us to pause and consider the complex relationship between humanity and the land.