Robert Adams: Summer Nights

There will always be visually illiterate people who blame Robert Adams when they don't get his work. Don't cheat yourself by listening to these knee-jerk voices. Adams' images deserve better. They are subtle, quiet, personal, intricate, and interrelated. They do not reveal all their secrets quickly; they may not reveal them at all if you expect to absorb everything in the flash of a first glance, or if you expect the pictures to tell you outright what they mean. His pictures are for slow, quiet viewing, for approaching with curiosity and opennenss. Of all of his bodies of work (and there are many), Summer Nights strikes me as the most accessible. Some of his other work may seem cold and intellectual at first glance (it isn't, but still might seem that way, especially if you're used to more romanic, dramatic pictures of the landscape). But summer nights is immediately inviting. Among other things, it's about simple pleasures of simple experiences, in places close to home. There's something here for anyone willing to take the time to sit still and really look.

Robert Adams' 'Summer Nights' has for me, been a seminal work in my development as an artist. The images in this book are evocative and powerful, yet plain and quiet. The book format and the sequencing of the images lend well to Mr Adams' style and subject matter. The quiet poetry of his night and evening journeys are a great begining and understanding into Mr Adams' work and ideas. This is one book that should have been republished many years ago!