Robert Adams' photographs of land, sea and Colorado

Robert Adams, Nehalem Bay State Park, 2009.
An image from This Day, a book by Robert Adams, reissued by Yale University Press. Photograph: Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York

Robert Adams, Nasturtium leaves, near the living room window. Astoria, 2009.
From This Day. In the book, Adams photographs two different kinds of landscapes – those inside his home, and those outside his window and beyond Photograph: Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York

Robert Adams, Clatsop Beach, ca. 2003.
From This Day Photograph: Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York

Robert Adams, North Beach Peninsula, Pacific County, Washington ca. 2005
An image from Sea Stories, a sequence of three visual narratives that follow Adams and his wife, Kerstin, as they walk along the beach to observe the annual migration of shorebirds Photograph: Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York

Robert Adams, Pacific Country, Washington, ca. 2005.
From Sea Stories. The book describes the cycles of nature with a new naturalism Photograph: Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York

North Beach Peninsula, Pacific County, Washington ca. 2005
An image from Sea Stories Photograph: Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York

Colorado, ca. 1973
Robert Adams moved to Colorado as a teenager and many of his photographs document suburbanisation in the state Photograph: Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York

Colorado, ca. 1973
A small child plays outside in the Colarado snow Photograph: Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York

Colorado, ca. 1973
Some of Adams' images offer a glimpse of a once vast and silent natural landscape Photograph: Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York

Colorado ca. 1973
Through his photographs, Adams explored how urban sprawl has affected the open spaces of his native Colorado Photograph: Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York

Colorado ca. 1973
Adams manages to capture a sense of silence in his images. In the introduction to his book Prairie, he wrote: 'There is everywhere silence – a silence in thunder, in wind, in the call of doves, even a silence in the closing of a a pick-up door' Photograph: Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York

Eden, Colorado 1968
While some of Adams' images depict everyday American architecture, such as freeways and shacks, his real interest lies in what has been lost and what remains Photograph: Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York

Northglenn, Colorado 1974
Adams studied architectural drawing at high school. His architect's eye is often apparent in his work Photograph: Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York

Untitled, ca. 1973
Adams shoots in black and white – the tonal qualities in his photographs would most likely be lost in colour Photograph: Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York

Untitled, ca. 1973
Adams documents the changing landscapes of the American West, capturing a profound sense of place Photograph: Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York