New Topograpics was a term created by William Jenkins in 1975. It was used to describe a group of photographers who’s images where all similar, consisting of black and white prints of urban landscapes.

New Topographics was inspired by Albert Renger Patszch a German photographer, and the idea of new objectivity. The new objectivity movement, engaged with the world as clearly and precisely as possible.

Early photographers documented the natural landscape. The new topographic movement allows photographers to document parking lots, suburban housing and warehouses. Finding the beauty within the man made features.

The photos of man made structures, show how the natural landscape has been changed by industrial development.

Robert Adams

Robert Adams was born in Orange, New Jersey, 1937. He is best known for his photos that investigate the urban landscapes in the American West. He uses photography to show his love love for the landscape, and how urban and industrial growth has changed it.

Adams was raised in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado. In 1956, he moved to Southern California to attend the University of Redlands. He majored in English literature and carried on at the University of Southern California where he went on to earn a Ph.D in 1965.

When Adams returned to Colorado, he had a plan to start a career in teaching. However, the changes in the landscape shocked him, and so he taught himself the fundamentals of photography. He began capturing photos of his home state, showing his love for the geography and change in his home.

Adams’ photographs capture the physical traces of human life.

• 

• 

• 

After the Romanticism movement, photographers soon tuned to “The New Topographics”, here photographers focused on buildings and anything that have been altered by man.

This new movement started in 1920s/ 1930s, in central Europe. Artists like El Lisstzky were the first to change from taking photos based on Romanticism, Here artists focused on the limited ranges of colours and geometric shapes. However the main focus was to find the beauty in our man altered landscapes.

Later on in 1975 which marked a further landmark in photography, an exhibition called “The New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscapes” became a turning point in the history of photography. This took photographers like  Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore, and Henry Wessel. They then displayed 150 photos showing how “The New World” isn’t as bad as it seems and there is beauty behind it.

• 

• 

Thomas Struth is a German photographer which was born in 1954. He is best known for his Museum photographs, Family portraits and his 1970s black and white street photos in New York and Germany.

His mum, Gisela Struth worked as a ceramic potter and his dad, Heinrich Struth was a Bank Director, they both lived in Geldern, Germany which was where Thomas Struth was born.

In 1973, Struth initially studied painting; however, in 1974 he began to become increasingly drawn to Photography which is where his passion commenced.

In 1977 Struth was awarded a scholarship by Kunstakademie, which allowed him to live in New York City. This lead to his progress in unusual images of streets devoid of people, traffic, and the unceasing movement typical of a major metropolis. 

His work is well known for his attention to detail, He wants to show the intricacy of the landscapes he captures to show that there is more than meets the eye. He is also well known for printing at a large scale; for example after vising places like Europe, Asia and America he created mural-sized colour photographs of up to 4 meters long, these were of dockyards, pharmaceutical plants, and physics institutes.

Analysis

Visual: Here in this image the eye is lead down the road and into a sort of “never ending” view of buildings, this allows the image to look 3D. I like the use of repetition with the buildings, as although there may be quite a few similar buildings at first glance, when you take another look it is clear to see the detail and the contrast shown between all the buildings. The colour in this image is clearly black and white which allows the audience to focus on the image itself without getting distracted by all the colours. All items such as buildings and cars seem to have been placed in neat little lines pointing towards the centre background of the image, which further leads the eye to each and every building before the audience I able to take a further glance.

Contextual: This photograph is called “West Broadway” due to the location in which it was taken. It was taken in 1978 at West Broadway, Tribeca, New York. This image is currently in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Technical: This picture has used Gelatin silver print which is an image suspended in a layer of silver gelatin, but on a paper substrate. The lighting is natural due to daylight. This photo was taken in the middle of this road which is shown through the symmetry of the image. Tonal range is shown in this image by the the different tones from Black-Grey-White. The photo also seems to have low sensitivity giving a better quality image. Warmth and temperature are not shown dut to the image being in Black and White.

Conceptual: I think the main idea behind this photograph by Thomas Struth is similar to the New Topographics movement in that he is trying to show the beauty in this new man altered world. This gives depth and meaning to the image as it is not another photo of New York to show of that he has viszited that place; but an image to show a different side of New York that many people may not be aware of.

What? I will be taking photographs for my Urban Landscapes project. I will also be following Thomas Struths style to create a symbolic urban photoshoot.

When? I will be taking these images on Friday 18^th October 2019.

Where? I will be taking most of my images in St. Helier, Jersey as it’s the most urban place in Jersey due to the high street and new financial buildings being built every year, it is also well populated, similar to many of the locations that Thomas Struth took images at.

How? I will be using the Cannon 750D to take my photographs, I will also be using natural lighting as I will be taking the photographs outdoors, I will then edit my photos using photoshop in order to make them look more like my photographers work.

Mind Map

• 

These are my best images that I think really show the new topographic and the contrast between the natural beauty of the coastal landscape and the urban structures that are taking over the landscape. I edited these images in Lightroom by choosing the style and final outcome I wanted then created my own preset. During the edit process I first cropped and resized the images to get the horizon lines straight and focus in on parts of the image that I wanted to stand out. I then upped the kelvin/temp sliders to make the photo warmer to replicate the look from the new topographic photos. I then increased the vibrance to make the colours more visible but lowered the saturation dramatically to make the image more flat. This was instrumental in creating the vintage 1970’s look.