A muted palette of blues and grays conjures up the hazy, late-afternoon summer light. Belying the natural beauty of his Montauk, Long Island, setting, Adam Bartos focused on banal, unlikely components--tent seams; an empty, torn canvas bag; a bare, worn picnic table; and a brown sedan with its hood raised.

Adam Bartos made this photograph at the recreational campgrounds of Hither Hills State Park in Montauk, Long Island, as part of an early 1990s series for the photography magazine Double Take, published in 1997. Taken in late afternoon over the course of several years, these evocative photographs document the ritual of the obligatory family vacation.