The “New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape” was an exhibition held by William Jenkins in 1975 that epitomized a key moment in American landscape photography.
It featured ten photographers whose pictures had a similar banal aesthetic, in that they were formal, mostly black and white prints of the urban landscape. Many of the photographers associated with new topographics including Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Nicholas Nixon and Bernd and Hiller Becher, were inspired by the man-made landscapes with some of their works featuring parking lots, suburban housing and warehouses. These were all depicted with a beautiful stark austerity, almost in the way early photographers documented the natural landscape. The exhibition revealed the growing unease about how the natural landscape was being eroded by industrial development. This contradicted the previous movement of Romanticism.
From here I thought it would be appropriate to come up with a few ideas in order to help me along the shoot and guide me in what I should be doing. Here are my ideas:
Once all the pictures of the given area had been taken I decided that I should whittle the selection down to the top ten overall images. This would allow me to come to an easier conclusion on what I thought was the best image taken in the shoot. These were my selected images I thought had the best outcome from the shoot:
I selected this image because I loved the texture created by the shades of rust on a pole. I found that this allowed heavy but effective contrast between the overall piece as all the colors complemented each other making an almost molten scene.
In this image I found that I particularly liked the contrast between the silhouette of the statue and the dim-lit sky, with the composition of the pole and string balancing out the image as a whole creating a visually pleasing overall piece.
Once again I loved the use of the colors created by the rust to make an almost volcanic landscape with shades of red overlapping each other. I found the composition of the piece eye-capturing as the more rusted black areas looked like a mountain range captured from a bird’s eye view.
In this image I tried to capture the way certain streets were looked after within my given area. What I liked about this one was how it incorporated everyday objects as almost ruining and breaking up the pattern made by the pavement through the composition of the paper and cigarettes.
Finally I chose this picture because I loved the symmetry created by the textures of the floor surrounding the lights making an aesthetically pleasing image. This use of composition I found was most effective from how it drew the eye to the areas wanted through a clear contrast.
To add to my research of the area to be explored, I decided that it would be appropriate to take street view shots in order to have a bit of an insight before hand of the area.
Part of the main area I am exploring is the car park, however now has been transformed into the International Finance Centers, with much of it still under construction. Other areas include Liberty Wharf, which was once known as a former abattoir that was restored and converted for the use of a shopping centre.
As seen above Henner very much focuses on satellite imagery as his main source of art. One technique commonly seen in his work is shaped pixels, this can be done through selecting an area and finding the main color present in that space, to then convert it to just that singular color.
They tend to focus on how the different textures of the floors can create the pattern to make aesthetically pleasing imagery. The images taken are of everyday generic objects that we take for granted and don’t see the patterns within them.
Lewis Baltz was a visual artist and photographer who was a significant figure in the new topographics movement. His work has appeared in museums, exhibitions and has been published in books.
Technical - The choice of black and white is repeated throughout this movement, it creates depth in the photograph as it has reduced the colours to shades which changes the direction of focus onto the tones in the photograph. The high resolution and natural daylight captures every detail in a bland scene and exaggerates the dullness and precise form of man made structures.
Visual - The photographs serves an aesthetic quality through the minimal shapes and lack of subjects which allows the viewer to concentrate on the straight and rigid lines that contrast with broken and curved wires. Black and white adds to the minimal theme with basic shades.
Conceptual - The photo reflects the movement away from natural landscapes with its banal and ugly qualities yet it finds satisfaction through its minimal style. It also highlights the reality of the progress of man, and the destruction of natural landscapes that have been replaced with flat concrete streets and rectangular buildings infested with wires, pipes, plastic and metal. It could be argued that the concept of the photograph is accepting this development of order and convenience.
Photo shoot - When I went out for this photo shoot I stuck to old run down buildings with interesting characteristics, colours and objects within them with rigid lines and edges.
final images -
I've chosen pictures that have a lot of simple basic shapes in them, some more than others. Each photo has ugly and banal features, especially in the buildings as they have been stripped and worn down to what this society perceive as ugly. This statement is reinforced in the last image where it has hazard and construction signs, signalling that it has no uses and only dangerous qualities to it. I reduced the colours in each picture, most to just black and white to reinforce the simplicity that the structure of each picture reflects.
