Neahkahnie Mountain, Oregon 2004

Robert Adams made this photograph, Neahkahnie Mountain, in Oregon with a camera and film, and a darkroom. The monochrome image shows us a close-up view of leaves and branches against a pale, almost bleached-out sky. I imagine Adams standing there, squinting, adjusting his lens to capture the delicate balance of light and shadow. The leaves, some with insect bites, look like they are reaching out. There is a certain texture, a play of light and dark, which makes me think about the way memory works – how we hold onto fragments of moments, of nature. The high contrast isolates these leaves into almost graphic shapes, flattening our sense of depth. Adams’ images often show us the quiet corners of the world, the places where nature and human activity intersect. He makes me want to pay closer attention to the world around me, because there is something comforting in the mundane, right? Art making is an ongoing conversation between artists, each responding to the world and to each other.