Neahkahnie Mountain, Oregon 2004

Robert Adams made this gelatin silver print, titled *Neahkahnie Mountain, Oregon.* He's best known for photographing the rapidly changing landscape of the American West. But look closely, and you'll see that this isn't a landscape at all. It’s a close-up of a single leaf, or rather, three leaves on a branch. The delicate silver gelatin process renders every detail, including the many perforations that have transformed the plant's surface into a delicate lacework. Adams has carefully positioned his camera to capture the light shining through these holes, almost as if the leaf is a stained-glass window. The gelatin silver print transforms a humble piece of nature into a study of light and shadow. The contrast between the natural and the constructed, the organic and the artificial, is what gives this photograph its power. This image reminds us that every photograph involves a whole industry, from mining of silver to the marketing of photographic paper. By focusing on the small and seemingly insignificant, Adams asks us to consider the larger systems at play in our world.