I’ve mentioned before that interviews have been a major part of my research. To that end, last October (2020) I took a deep breath and called one of photography’s most iconic artists, Robert Adams. So many books have been written by and about him that, to be honest, I hadn’t planned to interview him until I discovered his association with Myron Wood, who tutored him informally in the technical aspects of photography when both men lived in Colorado Springs in the early sixties.
Their friendship is the kind of unexpected connection that makes this project so rewarding, and Adams spoke affectionately about Wood: “Some years,” he told me, “we didn't see each other much, but we were good friends. He was a good man, and gifted with a spirit that I hope I have some of myself. As you probably know, he was seriously wounded in the second world war … and I think something out of that kept him free of the pretensions of the art world.”
While they shared interests in historic regions and urban settings, their approaches were very different. Using a medium-format camera, Adams framed his shots with the stark precision of Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish filmmaker whose work he much admires. Wood began his career using a 4x5 but by the time he met Adams he was a committed 35mm photographer, making images shot in a straightforward, publishable, style.
The three pairs of images I’ve chosen for this post illustrate many of their similarities and differences:
Robert Adams: Pikes Peak Park, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1969. © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Myron Wood: “Stratmoor Hills,” September 1961. Pikes Peak Library District. Myron Wood Collection.
Although Adams is associated with images of urban sprawl, Wood began documenting the encroachment of housing developments in Colorado Springs as early as the 1950s. Adams’s inclusion of a small child on a bicycle in Pikes Peak Park, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1969 (middle foreground) echoes the child in Wood’s image. However, their emotional tone is quite different. Wood’s humanistic approach emphasizes the bond between child and dog and imbues his image with a spirit of adventure, while the child in Adams’s photograph appears vulnerable and lost in the labyrinth of identical new homes.
Myron Wood, Church near Simla, CO, 1960. Pikes Peak Library District. Myron Wood Collection. 002-1535
Robert Adams, untitled, ca. 1970. (Church near Simla.) History Colorado Collection. 89.93.216-PH BOX 178. © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
The two men took many road trips together, and although they never photographed side by side they did photograph the same structures and places at different times. According to Adams, Wood introduced him to at least two churches to the east of Calhan, east of Colorado Springs on Highway 24. “There were a couple of Russian Orthodox churches,” he recalled, “which I suppose I might've found eventually, but he showed them to me.” The two images of churches near the small town of Simla, also on Highway 24, reveal subtle yet noticeable differences in their approach. Wood emphasizes the landscape while Adams emphasizes the structure. Snow and cloud cover lend Wood’s image a chilly romanticism missing in Adams’ stark image taken under a clear sky in late fall or early spring.
Myron Wood, Burger King, East Colorado Springs, May 1972. Pikes Peak Library District. Myron Wood Collection. 002-775
Robert Adams: Eden, Colorado, 1968. © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Wood was always on the lookout for humor and he often found it in bars and cafes, as in the Burger King photo from 1972. In contrast, Adams was preoccupied with light, which here floods over the counter and illuminates the bouffant hairdo of a customer sitting at the counter. I chose these two images because of their vantage point from behind the customers, but Wood was an affable, outgoing man who most often established a comfortable rapport with his subjects, as in the image below of “Gus Dutch” and his child in a bar.
Myron Wood: Gus Dutch, 1973. Pikes Peak Library District. Myron Wood Collection. 002-1299
The two men often visited and socialised with their wives. As Adams remembers, “We had good times, the four of us, his and his wife (Nancy) and me and Kerstin. One time we went out [to] the El Paso County Fair, which was held in Calhan. I would never have done that myself, but we went out there and it was a fantastic afternoon and just a hometown kind of atmosphere all the way through. And it really opened my eyes to wonderful, light-filled geography as well. The stands were only about six inches high and so you set it off there, just taking it all in.”
For a complete account of Adams’s work look for The Place We Live, a three-volume set published by Yale University Press. An excellent source for more about Wood is Film & Photography on the Front Range, edited by Tim Blevins, Dennis Daily, Sydne Dean, Chris Nicholl, Michael L. Olsen and Katie Rudolph (2012, Pikes Peak Library District).
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