The Sea Beach 2015

Robert Adams made this photograph of a beach, sometime in the last century. It's a study in contrasts, isn't it? The rough, weathered stump in the foreground, with its dark, almost violent texture, against the smooth, endless horizon. Look how Adams uses light here. The way the sun rakes across the sand, creating these long, elegant shadows. It's almost painterly, the way he coaxes out the details, the individual grains of sand, the tiny cracks in the wood. And that lone figure in the distance. So small, almost swallowed by the landscape. It makes you think about scale, about our place in the world. Adams' work, especially his landscapes, reminds me a little bit of the New Topographics photographers. They both share this interest in the poetics of the everyday, in finding beauty in the overlooked corners of the world. It's a reminder that art is all about looking closely, about paying attention.