Lemmon Valley, looking Northeast Possibly 1977 - 1978

Lewis Baltz made this photograph, Lemmon Valley, looking Northeast, using a camera. What I find so interesting about Baltz’s photographs is how he takes these arid, seemingly barren landscapes and finds such rich visual information within them. It’s almost entirely monochrome. Look at how the light rakes across the mountainside. It creates a texture that’s almost like a drawing, a field of tiny marks that describe the form. I love how the dense darkness of the foreground makes the houses at the base of the mountain seem so small. Then your eye is drawn up, into the light, where you can make out all the texture and detail. For me, this piece is a reminder of those photographers like Bernd and Hilla Becher who embrace a similarly serial approach to documenting the world around them. But, ultimately, art is about seeing, and Baltz finds beauty and complexity in places others might overlook. It’s an invitation to slow down and really *look*.