In 1975 there was an exhibition of New Topographic inspired work – it was titled “New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape” and was considered a point of turning in photography by many historians. The exhibitions consisted of the Bechers, Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore, and Henry Wessel. The photographs revolved around typical typology themes such as abandoned buildings. What was appealing about this exhibition was how unusual they were compared to the traditional approach of photographing landscapes. The new topographic photographers were less concerned with displaying nature as an ideal haven and they prioritised showing how many has changed the landscape, possibly for the worse. The exhibition also brought around a change in the teachings of photography because all of the photographers involved were associated with academia as either students or professors, which was strange at the time as photography was not widely taught in schools. Stephen Shore’s photographs in the exhibition also showed a shift from the old belief that fine art and photography should be in black and white. Ultimately, the exhibition helped the idea of photography as fine art to gain traction. The exhibition was originally held in the George Eastman House but in 2010 was re-staged at the University of Arizona in which they chose over 100 photos from the original exhibition to include. The influence left behind from the photographers involved on photographers can be clearly seen in the photographs. Each photographer in the New Topographics exhibition was represented by 10 prints, all of which was in black and white except for Stephen Shore’s work. When introducing the exhibition, Jenkins (the curator) defined the common denominator of the show as “a problem of style: stylistic anonymity”, meaning an absence of style. The idea was that all of the photographs were stripped of artistic frills. For more detailed look at what the work of the New Topographic’s consisted of, please see my post on the Bechers.

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The work of the New Topographic’s appeals to me because the work that I have been doing on ‘Variance and Similarity’ involves me photographing building faces in a documentary style similar to the work of Topographics, such as the Bechers. I believe that the strong and bold photographs that they have produced in an attempt to show how there is beauty in the ugly have a strong influence over the work that I have produced as I have been photographing buildings which are not conventionally attractive, as well as photographs of steel covered in rust, which is another typically ugly subject. The resulting photographs are abstract compositions that reflect the documentative and cold-cut style of the New Topographic work. I am also presenting some of my final pieces as a typology grid, which is a feature strongly associated with the Becher’s. The typology grid appeals to me because it provides a great way to compare and contrast between photographs as well as showing trends between them in a way that is simplistic but effective.

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