Urban landscape is a particular theme within photography where photos of industrial areas or more like populated cities are shot capturing everyday society. Generally there is a dramatic opposition between man made structures or human activity vs nature which clash together to create urban photography. Usually in photography including the element of urban landscape consist both landscape and complex areas such as cities and buildings. Urban landscape photography can be shot by inside a city or town or even from different perspective such as bird bird eyes/straight on views. Urban landscape photography is usually complex to photographers due to the variety of objects and places that can be fitted into one shot and the many different shapes and colours. Urban landscape is also the art of visual and structural integration of a set of buildings, streets, or populated areas that come together to form an urban environment. Below are some examples of urban landscape photography.
I enjoy of these photos, as I like the way they are taken, in the sense that they are very observational and more for documentation, and not very creatively taken. In the sense that they were taken for documenting than being taken for being aesthetically pleasing.
Visual: This image seems to be 3D due to the dimensions of the image and the position of the camera as the tree trunk is closer to us than the tree branches and leaves. The eye is drawn from the tree bark all the way up to its branches and leaves. Although there is a lot of negative space due to the sky, I actually quite like it due to the texture of the clouds and the contrast as the the clouds have quite a high sensitivity compared to the rest of the image.
Conceptual: I think that the main idea behind this image is again the power and graciousness of the tree and nature in general. Due to the cameras angle it looks like we have to look up to the tree which shows that we should respect nature and treat it well.
Technical: The lighting used in this image is natural lighting, this is shown due to the different coloring of the clouds. Here is the image was taken from a low angle close to the ground however the camera was pointing up towards the tree, this makes the tree look large powerful and intense, showing the power of nature and how it is stronger than humans. Tonal range is clearly shown here through the under exposure and the sharp contrasts of the highlights in the clouds and the shadows in the trees and leaves giving the tree a menacing look. Here the focal point seems to be on the tree, especially the tree bark as that is the sharpest point of the image. There is a low ISO which is shown through the sharpness of the image and the fine grain. Due to the Black and white filter, the colours are only present in the form of black, white and grey this adds to the tonal range as the contrast between these colours are more evident.
Contextual: This is called the Ta Prohm Tree in Cambodia, it is a well known tourist attraction in Cambodia due to its roots growing on top of the Ta Prohm temple which was built in the late 12th / early 13th century; however it is interesting that instead of focusing on the temple and the tree roots, he decided to focus on the tree itself. Kenna took this image in 2018 on his trip to Cambodia.
THE NEW TOPOGRAPHICS was started by a group of 10 photographers, who are inspired by nature and how it is impacted by man and man-made structures. The group staged an exhibition of all their work which was inspired by the idea of man controlling nature. They have shifted away from the idea of romanticism and traditional landscape photography. They tend to capture everyday scenes, such as car parks and industrial spaces, which contrasts to the photograph MINOR WHITE takes.
the photographers part of THE NEW TOPOGRAPHICS
Robert Adams
Lewis Baltz
Bernd and Hilla Becher
Joe Deal
Frank Gohlke
Nicholas Nixon
John Schott
Stephen Shore
Henry Wessel
QUESTION: WHAT DID THE NEW TOPOGRAPHICS RESPOND TO?
They responded to how man made and industrial aspects have taken over the natural world.
