The Environment- Robert Adam's

‘Los Angeles Spring’ by Robert Adam’s

‘On Signal Hill, Overlooking Long Beach, California’, 1983, by Robert Adams is from a group of photo’s called ‘Los Angeles Spring’ this is what Adams had to say about this set of work. 

‘Southern California was, by the reports of those who lived there at the turn of the century, beautiful; there were live oaks on the hills, orchards across the valleys, and ornamental cypress, palms, and eucalyptus lining the roads. Even now we can almost extrapolate an Eden from what has lasted—from the architecture of old eucalyptus trunks, for example, and from the astringent perfume of the trees’ flowers as it blends with the sweetness of orange blossoms. What citrus remain today, however, are mostly abandoned, scheduled for removal, and large eucalyptus have often been vandalized, like the hundreds west of Fontana that have been struck head high with shotgun fire. Whether those trees that stand are reassuring is a question for a lifetime. All that is clear is the perfection of what we were given, the unworthiness of our response, and the certainty, in view of our current deprivation, that we are judged.’

This series of images look at how human activity has affected nature in California. Adam’s wanted to photograph the changes between 1978 and 1983 as he’s surrounding landscape was changed after world war II.  All the images have a very disturbing feel to them because of the juxtaposition between the wilderness and the urban towns/cities. I decided to look into the whole series to understand the thoughts and meaning that went into the picture I need to pastiche for my project. The series has also given me inspiration for the set of three images I need to take as I want to represent the relationship between human intervention upon nature. The main theme I noticed throughout most of this series is how Adam’s has chosen to mostly focus on an subject that is in the foreground, this approach draws your attention to the rest of the image. Adam’s work is also very focused on the affect humans has had on nature as there isn’t anything else in the image that can distract your attention away from the issue he is photographing. This is shown by how he keeps his sky’s very plain by photographing on an overcast day to make sure there is no dramatic sky in the picture.

 I love the simplicity of this image and how at first it seems very serene until you look in to the image and notice how it's not serene at all. The road cutting through the foreground of the image represents how human's have cut through nature. Having all the beautiful and sublime landscape in the background contrasts against the dirt road in the foreground and shows how hum as have destroyed nature.