Poplars, Harney County, Oregon Possibly 1999 - 2005

Robert Adams made this photograph, Poplars, Harney County, Oregon, with his camera. It's a black and white image, almost like a drawing, and evokes the textures of the poplar trees. I can imagine Robert Adams out there in the landscape, framing that shot, probably thinking about Ansel Adams, maybe? And Timothy O’Sullivan… all those landscape guys, mostly guys… and here he is, thinking about them as he's making his own thing. The two trees, side by side, are almost holding hands, but they are also separated by the light sky. The gesture of the leaves reminds me of handwriting, a way of marking the passage of time. Each mark becomes a record of the artist's decision, their intention, and their response to the world around them. And that is the way artists talk to each other through time, across the landscape, using light.