The New Topographics is a term used to describe a group of American photographers, including Robert Adams, whose pictures had a similar banal aesthetic as they were formal, black and white prints of urban landscape. Many of the photographers involved were inspired by the man-made. They used subjects such as parking lots, suburban housing and warehouses. The New Topographics had a major influence on later photographers including the artists that became known as the Dusseldorf School of Photography. The New Topographics were a reaction to mans impact on land and the Romanticism movement.

The New Topographics 

The new topographic was a phrase to describe a group of American based photographers who were inspired by man made environments.Parking lots, suburban housing and warehouses were all depicted with a beautiful stark austerity.

“New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape” was an exhibition that epitomized a key moment in American landscape photography. The show was curated by William Jenkins at the International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House (Rochester, New York), and remained open to the public from October 1975 until February 1976. The photographers featured in this exhibition where; Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore, and Henry Wessel, Jr. The  German couple, Bernd and Hilla Becher, were also invited to the exhibition, who was then teaching at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany.

What was the new topographic a reaction to?

The movement was a reaction to the works similar the works of Ansel Adams which was portraying beautiful scenic landscapes which have seemingly have been untouched by humans. The group wanted to highlight that most of the world was not like this and once beautiful areas had become wastelands for mankind.

What is romanticism photography?

Throughout the 1800s the romantic movement was the most popular form of landscapes that were painted early on. However, the style is brought back in the 21st century with photographers recreating similar images. The first real romantic landscapes were seen in the period when artists, poets and writers were more focused on nature and the power of it more than any history, religion or portraiture happening in that time.  The period was characterized mostly by emphasis of emotion as well as nature. At the time, the industrial revolution was emerging and romanticism was a fresh and almost reminiscent way of thinking that was not so focused on the technologies and future. It is also characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual’s expression of emotion and imagination and the departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism.

These images where all found on Google under ‘romanticism photography’.

Ansel Adams (1902 – 1984) was an American photographer and environmentalist. His photos of the American West are often seen on calendars, photos and books.  Adams founded the photography group ‘Group f/64’. He was part of the romanticism movement and produced lots of striking landscape photographs in black and white, often involving a pathway of some sort and interesting weather.

Ansel Adams is a key photographer within the romanticism genre of landscape photography. He was one of the most influential people  that inspired many of the modern day photographers to capture the pure beauty that lays within our earth. He focuses on capturing the untouched areas of our world and exaggerating the pictures to create dramatic and intense photos.

Image analysis

This photograph appears to have been taken with only natural light.  Typically, wide angle lenses were and still are used to capture landscape photos, which is likely what would have been used to create this image. This image has a large tonal range, with the foreground and parts of clouds very dark and sinister to the peaks of the mountains, illuminated in snow. This image entails a large depth of field as the closest parts of the image are sharp and in focus as well as the furthest points such as the clouds. A fast shutter speed would have been used to capture this image because we can see there is no motion blur within the river or the clouds. If a slower shutter speed was used, then the clouds and river would have became silky and smooth with motion blur creating this. There is a great use of leading lines within this photo as the river and trees/banks on either side of it, leads the viewers eyes from the trees in the foreground all the way to the mountains in the background. The composition of this photo is effective yet doesn’t use the rule of thirds to its potential. The only use of rule of thirds int his photo is where the horizon sits on the top horizontal line. There is little use of rule of thirds used because Adams is trying to show that it is natural and it is the subject that is beautiful rather than the actual photograph itself. I think Adams was trying to influence the idea that the environment is beautiful by using little editing.