Remains of a eucalyptus windbreak, Redlands, California Possibly 1982 - 1990

Robert Adams made this photograph, *Remains of a eucalyptus windbreak, Redlands, California*, using gelatin silver, a process that captures a whole world of gray. I see a copse of trees standing in a wide open landscape, maybe it was hot, maybe the light was blinding and the air was thick with the smell of eucalyptus. It’s like these trees are huddled together for comfort, or maybe for protection. I bet Adams was thinking about how we change the land when we build our homes. The marks we leave behind. It reminds me of those other photographers, like Carlton Watkins, who captured the American West with such grandeur. Adams is part of that lineage but he is also showing us something sadder, something lost. A conversation across time. Adams uses his own way of seeing to make sense of the world.