Northeast of Keota, Colorado Possibly 1969 - 1981

This is a photograph by Robert Adams, of the land Northeast of Keota, Colorado, and well, it looks like it was made using a camera! There’s something about the vastness of this landscape and the sky that feels so open, and yet the tones of grey and brown create a heavy stillness that hangs in the air. Look at the horizon line, so straight and unwavering. The detail in the clouds is amazing; you can almost feel the weight of the rain about to fall. And then there's that tiny cluster of buildings, huddled together in the distance, offering a slight sense of human presence in all that emptiness. Adams's work reminds me a little of Bernd and Hilla Becher. The Becher's were also interested in the American landscape and took photographs of industrial buildings to create a kind of inventory of these places. But ultimately Adams's vision is all his own, and he shows us a world that’s both beautiful and unsettling, leaving us to ponder our place within it.