Robert Adams is an American photographer whos mainly focused on the changing landscape of the American West. His work first started to get noticed in the mid-1970s through his own book The New West.

He has documented the extent and the limits of our damage to the American West, recording there, in over fifty books of pictures, both reasons to despair and to hope.

some examples of his photography;

my favourite image and analysis;

technical- This image has a range of different lighting, as it’s been taken in the night time this would mean there is no natural lighting. However a lamp and the moon are being over exposed in order to create warmer and lighter tones in the image overall. They’re the two brightest sections of the image therefore grab your attention right away. I assume flash has been used in this photo as it would need some sort of help brightening the image up. The contrast between the white house and extremely dark sky works very well together as it’s very sharp. However this image could have in fact been taken during the day time and that could be the sun peaking through the trees and Robert Adams has just turned the image into black and white. The image is very focused and has been taken from far away or maybe through a wider/longer lens.

Visual- This image is clearly taken in black and white or has been edited afterwards. There’s a variety of different tones, from extremely bright and white areas such as the moon and lamp on the house to dark, black/navy areas such as the sky and trees surrounding the house. This image doesn’t focus on shape or texture as it’s a landscape photograph. The house has been centered to the left of the image and the lamp and moon light are in line with each other but in a slanted upwards direction. The viewpoint of this image is straight on in order to capture more at once on a more flat level.

Contextual- there isn’t much history behind this image that Robert Adams took other than simply wanting to photograph the ‘beauty and insight’ of simple landscapes. This a famous quote of his when he talks about why he takes the photographs he does,” To want to make pictures is fundamentally to want to share something that you have seen of value, and that you suspect maybe people haven’t paid enough attention to. The American West has been my primary subject, particularly the landscape. They are frightening landscapes and the only way I can get over my own anxiety about them is to go and keep working.” – Robert Adams

Conceptual- I think there isn’t a deep meaning behind this image that Robert Adams took however I think he wanted people to appreciate the simple details in landscape photography. For example this small little white house that looks like it’s located in the middle of the woods, most people probably wouldn’t think much of it but in the night time when the moonlight shines over it , it makes you see it from a different side. The way Robert Adams edits his images also makes them more interesting to look at due to all the different tones in the image that make certain areas stand out a lot more.