Pikes Peak from the prairie, Colorado c. 1968

This is Robert Adams’ photograph, Pikes Peak from the prairie, Colorado. It's a black and white image that captures a stark, almost desolate landscape. The photograph is divided into planes: the immediate foreground with scrubby vegetation and dry earth, then a middle ground marked by a 'TRESPASSING' sign, followed by the flat expanse of the prairie, and finally, in the distance, the faint, snow-capped peaks of Pikes Peak. It’s so subtle, so understated, that it almost whispers. I wonder what Adams was thinking when he made it? The grainy texture and the tonal range, from the bright sky to the muted earth, create a sense of vastness and quiet melancholy. It reminds me a little of Ed Ruscha's photographic books from the '60s, but with a deeper ecological undercurrent. Adams’ photograph isn't just about a place; it's about our relationship to that place, and the ways we mark, claim, and sometimes, desecrate it.