I usually don’t write about a brand-new book, but this one is special. Special for two reasons. One is the book itself. Two, just as important, and perhaps even more so is how it came into my possession … and this is what makes it especially special.  The book was given to me as a gift by Peter Schrager … fellow black and white photographer, follower of this website, Monalog Collective member, and most importantly my friend.

As I’ve said before, for me photography is about the journey. It’s much, much more than the pictures you make. It’s about that and everything else related to it. At least it is to me. Perhaps most important beyond being out there and getting some keepers is the people I meet and the friendships I make. Peter is one of the friends I’ve made and my life is better for that.

Ok, so what about the book? Adams is a seminal photographer who’s documented the tension between man’s development of the American West and the natural beauty of what was. Particularly the sprawl of suburbia and all that comes with it. As someone who’s lived in suburbia for much of my life, I am particularly sensitive to this. I lived in suburban northern Virginia and experienced suburban sprawl gone mad. I escaped that and moved to Doylestown. Couldn’t find a house in the borough that had a proper basement for a darkroom, so I ended up at the edge of town in a house built 30 years ago. While I can walk into town and I spend quite a lot of time there, the feel is a little different.  Bucks County is famous for its bucolic beauty and wonderful small towns like Doylestown but it too has experienced the ravages of development. Adams throughout his long career has captured the consequences of development, both to the land and to those that live in it. This is well documented in his seminal book.

The pictures are not what I would call pretty, but they’re important to look at. While I am familiar with Adam’s work and seen his pictures in several anthologies I own, I have never viewed his work in person or thought of owning one of his books. Now that I have this fine edition, I realize the mistake I made.

Thank you Peter for this wonderful gift. Robert Adams, What We Bought: The New World: Scenes from the Denver Metropolitan Area, 1970-1974 will now become an important piece of my photographic library and serve as a stark reminder of one of the realities of American life.

Stay safe,

Michael