New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape was an exhibition that has been considered a key point in American landscape photography. The show was created by William Jenkins and remained available to the public for 5 months in the 70’s. The work by Jenkins has made a huge impact on American and European photography.
Jenkins selected a team of 8 young photographers and a German couple who had been working with typologies. Each photographer in the New Topographics exhibition was represented by 10 prints. All but Stephen Shore worked in black and white.
EG.
My Attempts
Stephen Shore
In 1973 Stephen Shore set out from New York to photograph the United States for what became a book called “Uncommon Places.” He shot his motel room in Idaho Falls,and a pancake breakfast at the Trail’s End Restaurant in Kanab,
He was in his mid-20s and already a star. 8 years earlier, he had sold some of his photographs to the Museum of Modern Art. Then he started hanging out in Andy Warhol’s Factory, where he lighted shows for the Velvet Underground.
In 1971 the Metropolitan Museum of Art gave Shore its second-ever exhibition by a living photographer. He was 23 when it opened and he told the writer Lynne Tillman years later that having a show other photographers waited a lifetime for made him worry.
His twist on the topographics with colour photos created a style of its own that although is less famous than the generic topographic theme is still very popular.
