Backyard, Longmont, Colorado 1982 - 1992

Robert Adams made this photograph, Backyard, Longmont, Colorado, with silver probably sometime in the seventies. What strikes me about the image is how the tones almost melt into one another, like memory. There's a real process of discovery to be had when looking at images like this - nothing is given away too easily. The texture of the print itself gives it a kind of hazy quality, as if the light has been emulsified. The silver tones are incredibly rich, but so close together that you have to really look to distinguish between them. Notice how the light from the window of the house glows, almost as if it's coming from within the paper itself. That little point of brightness is the anchor of the entire image. Adams reminds me of those New Topographics photographers, like Bernd and Hilla Becher, who photographed things really plainly. It's like he's saying that beauty is everywhere, even in the most ordinary places, if you just know how to look. It's not a matter of showing but of seeing.