Maricopa County, Carefree Highway East of I-17, Looking Southeast to an Area to be Subdivided Within the Year 2000

Allen Dutton made this photograph, Maricopa County, in what must have been the last moments before the desert floor was lost to development. The tones are so subtle, all the textures of the plants, the cacti, and the ground feel as though they're breathing. The surface is alive with tiny details, like the barely visible mountains in the distance. Look at the way the light falls, creating these long, gentle shadows that emphasize the uneven terrain. It’s an incredibly sensitive rendering of a landscape on the verge of disappearing. There’s a tension here, between the calm, almost reverential approach to the subject and the knowledge that this vista is about to be transformed. It reminds me of the Bechers, Bernd and Hilla, and their photographs of industrial structures – a detached, almost clinical eye recording forms that are both beautiful and on the brink of obsolescence. What does it mean to document something at the moment of its passing? Is it a eulogy, or simply a record? Ultimately, the meaning is for you to interpret.