[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:13.82,0:00:18.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ROBERT ADAMS: The final strength \Nin really great photographs
Dialogue: 0,0:00:18.08,0:00:21.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that they suggest more than \Njust what they show literally.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.32,0:00:29.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Photography and poetry both center on metaphor.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.68,0:00:37.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My subject has fundamentally for \Nforty years been the American West.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.48,0:00:46.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The first serious photography I did that \Nhad any success to it began in Colorado.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.04,0:00:55.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Living in Colorado Springs at the time I started
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.92,0:00:59.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to photograph along the emerging suburban strip.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.64,0:01:06.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was taking pictures of the \Ntract houses and highways.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:10.40,0:01:14.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I came into the dark room and printed \Nthem and I was really surprised.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.52,0:01:17.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I thought I was taking pictures \Nof things that I hated,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:21.40,0:01:23.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but there was something about these pictures,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:24.56,0:01:29.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they were unexpectedly, disconcertingly glorious
Dialogue: 0,0:01:31.08,0:01:34.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and from that grew a project called The New West
Dialogue: 0,0:01:34.84,0:01:37.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which really was the first serious work I did.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.12,0:01:50.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’d like to document what’s glorious in the west,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:50.16,0:01:53.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and remains glorious, even \Ndespite what we’ve done to it.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.80,0:01:59.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’d like to...to be very truthful about \Nthat but I also want to show what is…
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.48,0:02:03.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what is disturbing and what needs correction.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.04,0:02:09.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The best way to do that, and it’s \Nthe way every artist dreams of,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.16,0:02:13.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is to show it at the same time \Nin the very same rectangle.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.56,0:02:22.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The effort is to find that perfectly \Nbalanced frame where everything fits.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:23.12,0:02:27.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s not exactly the same as life, it’s…
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.36,0:02:29.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s life seen better.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:30.92,0:02:33.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here’s a picture of mine that I’m happy with.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:33.40,0:02:37.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The bottom of the picture is \Na kind of bowl of dark trees.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.08,0:02:44.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In this bowl is the city of Boulder and \Nbeyond it is a few of the plains and to me,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.24,0:02:46.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that’s a successful picture because
Dialogue: 0,0:02:46.64,0:02:51.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it does suggest some of the contradictory \Nnature of the western experience.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.84,0:02:56.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Similarly, I took a picture once of a \Nwoman silhouetted in a tract house window,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:56.84,0:03:01.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and in one sense that’s a picture \Nof the saddest kind of isolation
Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.28,0:03:03.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and most inhumane building.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.20,0:03:09.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But also raining down over this \Npicture onto the roof and the lawn,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.32,0:03:11.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is glorious, high altitude light.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.52,0:03:15.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There’s no light like Colorado and \Nyou can see it in this picture.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:15.84,0:03:19.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s just absolutely sublime light.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.12,0:03:25.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Your decision to make a \Nphotograph is a kind of seduction
Dialogue: 0,0:03:26.40,0:03:29.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the seduction is worked by light.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.32,0:03:33.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Many, many times, thousands of exposures,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:33.80,0:03:36.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were made in a state of helplessness.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:36.40,0:03:38.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I simply had to do that.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:39.40,0:03:43.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was nothing could keep \Nme from pressing the trigger.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:48.56,0:03:53.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Most of my pictures at the ocean \Nwere taken from the south jetty
Dialogue: 0,0:03:53.12,0:03:56.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on the Oregon side of the \Nmouth of the Columbia River.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:58.44,0:04:03.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In five or ten minutes the whole \Nsurface of the sea will change.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:07.76,0:04:11.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To retake a landscape \Npicture is almost impossible.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:13.08,0:04:15.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it’s even more so for seascapes.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:17.32,0:04:19.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was a wonderful experience.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:19.40,0:04:22.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was just surrendering yourself to something.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:24.64,0:04:26.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Every photographer wants to do books.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:27.80,0:04:33.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For obvious reasons, they reach a \Nwider audience than exhibitions do
Dialogue: 0,0:04:33.04,0:04:37.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they allow the audience to consider \Nthe work over a longer period of time.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:39.56,0:04:45.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Putting pictures next to each other inevitably \Ninfluences the nature of both pictures.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:47.92,0:04:50.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We work hundreds upon hundreds of hours.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:50.68,0:04:54.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A major book will require that in terms of editing
Dialogue: 0,0:04:55.24,0:04:59.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that’s what Charsten, my \Nwife, has helped me with, t
Dialogue: 0,0:05:00.60,0:05:05.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,hat together with being my text \Neditor for my entire working life
Dialogue: 0,0:05:05.52,0:05:06.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and our married life together.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:07.57,0:05:12.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She’s the person whom I have absolute trust in.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:14.20,0:05:17.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Almost every book begins with a gift.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:17.40,0:05:18.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A picture you didn’t expect.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:19.64,0:05:21.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are a lot of surprises in photography
Dialogue: 0,0:05:21.72,0:05:25.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and if you’re not interested in surprises \Nyou shouldn’t be a photographer.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:25.68,0:05:29.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s one of the great, \Nenlivening blessings of the…
Dialogue: 0,0:05:29.24,0:05:30.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the medium.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:31.36,0:05:35.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At your best, it teaches you \Nto try to remain open to new…
Dialogue: 0,0:05:35.16,0:05:38.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,new experience because the gifts \Nare sometimes really exciting.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:40.84,0:05:45.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I took pictures in southern California \Nover a period of three years.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:47.36,0:05:49.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The strange thing is that \Nalthough southern California
Dialogue: 0,0:05:49.84,0:05:53.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of course stands under this pall of smog,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:53.16,0:05:57.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,nonetheless the light that filters down \Nthrough that smog is extraordinary.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:04.16,0:06:09.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s an amazingly verdant if \Nsomewhat ominous landscape.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:11.44,0:06:13.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Very beautiful country, still.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:15.96,0:06:21.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After I spent some time working in the…
Dialogue: 0,0:06:21.00,0:06:25.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in California I then began \Nto turn to the northwest.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:31.60,0:06:36.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The book Turning Back is \Nfundamentally about deforestation.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:38.81,0:06:42.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s not just a matter of exhaustion of resources.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:42.24,0:06:46.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I do think there is involved \Nan exhaustion of spirit.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:54.40,0:06:56.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Look at that...all those little industrial trees.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:56.92,0:07:02.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not a single tree in sight that’s \Nover thirty-five, forty years old.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:10.04,0:07:13.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think the reason I care about that awful place
Dialogue: 0,0:07:13.80,0:07:17.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was not only that it sat within \Nabout six feet of the road,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:17.48,0:07:19.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they had the temerity to cut this tree,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:20.66,0:07:24.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but this contemptuous beer can.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:24.04,0:07:29.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Boy does that capture what this \Nlandscape does to the spirit.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:29.52,0:07:33.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It brings out everything \Ndesperately close to nihilism
Dialogue: 0,0:07:33.52,0:07:35.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in everybody who passes by.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:35.64,0:07:38.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s a breeding ground for contempt.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:41.12,0:07:43.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some of the earliest memories \NI have with my father
Dialogue: 0,0:07:43.40,0:07:46.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are in teaching me how to \Nsaw wood and hammer nails,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:47.63,0:07:51.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and if you learn it early it \Nbecomes mysteriously central
Dialogue: 0,0:07:51.56,0:07:54.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and helpful to your health of spirit.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:57.04,0:08:01.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s a mainly just a wonderful way to \Nrelate to the world in another way,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:01.64,0:08:04.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it’s like you might use music.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:07.56,0:08:09.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now you can remember things in your hands
Dialogue: 0,0:08:09.36,0:08:10.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you can know things with your hands
Dialogue: 0,0:08:10.96,0:08:12.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that you can’t know with your head.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:17.08,0:08:21.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Edward Thomas observed that \Npeople and trees are quote,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:21.04,0:08:23.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,imperfect friends, unquote,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:23.76,0:08:27.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,citing the tragic nature of \Npeople and the silence of trees.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:28.76,0:08:31.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are however, times of harmony.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:31.56,0:08:33.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,With Lombardi poplars, for instance,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:33.92,0:08:38.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whose thirst and fragility \Nmight tempt us to cut them down,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:38.44,0:08:40.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but whose beauty gives us pause.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:41.24,0:08:45.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They seem to say with us what we \Ncan not say perfectly by ourselves.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:46.48,0:08:50.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I will praise thee, oh Lord, with my whole heart.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:51.24,0:08:57.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a wonderful poplar that Charsten \Nand I found on the high desert of Oregon,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:57.48,0:09:02.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we spent about eight hours over \Ntwo days photographing this tree
Dialogue: 0,0:09:02.68,0:09:05.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in different lights at different hours.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:08.84,0:09:13.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I have yet to know anybody who does \Nnot have some response to poplars.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:15.08,0:09:20.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There’s a voice. And uh, \Nthank goodness it’s there.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:21.80,0:09:27.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You know if you haven’t loved \Na tree enough to if not hug it
Dialogue: 0,0:09:27.40,0:09:30.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at least want to walk up to it and touch it,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:32.24,0:09:35.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as if you’re touching a profound mystery,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:35.40,0:09:37.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if that experience has eluded you,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:38.24,0:09:39.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I feel bad for you.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:43.72,0:09:45.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This was such a dramatic place.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:45.48,0:09:47.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think both you and I knew that…
Dialogue: 0,0:09:47.56,0:09:51.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that something had to come out of \Nthis kind of valley of death here,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:52.56,0:09:55.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then we found these enormous stumps.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:55.40,0:09:58.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you went and sat down, and \NI thought, god there it is.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:58.12,0:10:03.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There’s the...the posture that conveys \Nthe utter sorrow one feels here.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:14.69,0:10:15.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ADAMS: What a place.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:17.76,0:10:21.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,CHARSTEN: Well, what strikes me is the \Nfact that it’s a black and white landscape.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:21.80,0:10:24.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,With a tiny fringe of green sometimes.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:25.96,0:10:28.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that’s how I think of that place.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:28.06,0:10:31.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ADAMS: I was just going to say, \Nthat’s...that’s almost what it was.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:32.88,0:10:36.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ADAMS: I remember there didn’t \Nseem to be anything possible to say
Dialogue: 0,0:10:36.32,0:10:39.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then we read some lines by W.S. Merwin.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:39.80,0:10:42.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“After an age of leaves and feathers,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:43.44,0:10:46.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,someone dead thought of this mountain as money,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:47.04,0:10:51.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and cut the trees that were here \Nin the wind and the rain at night,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:51.84,0:10:53.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it is hard to say it.”
Dialogue: 0,0:10:56.96,0:11:00.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Beauty, which I admit to being in pursuit of,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:00.60,0:11:04.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is an extremely suspect word \Namong many in the art world.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:05.44,0:11:08.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I don’t think you can get along without it.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:08.20,0:11:12.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s the confirmation frankly \Nof...of meaning in life.