Longmont, Colorado 1982 - 1992

Robert Adams took this photograph in Longmont, Colorado, and what strikes me is the presence of that curious little dog right in the middle. It’s all in shades of grey, like a memory, and that little pup looks like they are waiting for something to happen. You know, I can imagine Robert Adams setting up his camera, adjusting the focus, and then waiting, just waiting, for the right moment when the dog looks up, alert, and the light catches its fur. It’s a moment of stillness, but it’s also full of potential energy, like a breath held before speaking. The high contrast in the black and white film makes you wonder what Robert Adams was trying to express by framing this scene in such a way, almost like a casual snapshot but loaded with intention. Adams’ photographs are often about place, and the relationships that people and animals have to the places they inhabit, and maybe that’s what this is about too. He is asking us what a photograph can be. And what it can do.