A turning point in the history of photography, the 1975 exhibition New Topographics signalled a radical shift away from traditional depictions of landscape. Pictures of transcendent natural vistas gave way to unromanticised views of stark industrial landscapes, suburban sprawl, and everyday scenes not usually given a second glance. This restaging of the exhibition includes the work of all 10 photographers from the original show: Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore, and Henry Wessel.

When you think of “landscape photography,” what comes to mind? Whatever pictures you’re imagining, they likely look different from the photographs in the 1975 exhibition New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-altered Landscape.

Robert Adams is one of the most important trailblazers of modern American photography; a key figure in the New Topographics movement (a term coined by William Jenkins to describe the visual documentation of “man-altered landscapes”), he revolutionised the way in which the American West was depicted on film, highlighting the effects of industrialisation upon what was once a vast, imposing wilderness that would have made Lord Byron swoon.

Born in 1937, in Orange, New Jersey, Adams’ family relocated to Wheat Ridge, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, when he was 12. Adams spent much of his childhood and adolescence hiking and mountain climbing – a passion which stuck with him into adulthood. Having majored in English, it wasn’t until 1963, at the age of 26, that Adams bought a 35 mm reflex camera and began photographing nature and architecture. His fascination with the medium burgeoned, and – after a fortuitous meeting with John Szarkowski, the curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art in 1969, which resulted in MoMA’s purchase of four of his prints – he opted to pursue his passion full-time.

Adams’s visual education came in part through the work of photographers who had preceded him in the West a century before.

The New West Mood Board

Adams’ monochrome style – at once formal and evocative – was influenced by 19th-century photographers like Timothy O’Sullivan, William Henry Jackson and Carleton Watkin, who also focussed on the landscape of the West (in its more primitive state) as well as Lewis Hine, Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams, all of whom married social and aesthetic concerns in their work.  Adams’s visual education came in part through the work of photographers who had preceded him in the West a century before.

Critic Sean O’Hagan, writing in The Guardian, said “his subject has been the American west: its vastness, its sparse beauty and its ecological fragility…What he has photographed constantly – in varying shades of grey – is what has been lost and what remains” and that “his work’s other great subtext” is silence…

The turning point in Adams’ career was the publication of his highly acclaimed photo-essay, The New West, in 1974, which catapulted the image-maker into the public eye. e are first confronted with two, light-drenched images of sprawling prairies, where the only sign of human intervention are electricity pylons and wooden fence posts. Then these open fields are shown bearing signs, first: No Trespassing, then: For Sale or Lease, and you begin to feel the shadow of commercial opportunism ominously approaching. Sure enough, the next section depicts the rapidly growing expanse of tract houses and mobile homes popping up along the Front Range, breaking us in with an image of the foundations of a single tract house being laid in a sparse stretch of land, before presenting us with an entire town of these compact white abodes, which nevertheless appear tiny and somehow insignificant against the backdrop of the towering mountains and an omnipresent sky. 

Depicting the unwavering presence and beauty of nature in the face of human intervention was, for Adams, a key element of the project. As he explains in the book’s introduction, “Why open our eyes anywhere but in undamaged places like national parks? One reason is, of course, that we do not live in parks, that we need to improve things at home, and to do that we have to see the facts… Paradoxically, however, we also need to see the whole geography, natural and man-made, to experience a peace; all land, no matter what has happened to it, has over it a grace, an absolute persistent beauty.” And indeed, even when Adams zooms in on the man-made – be it a woman strikingly silhouetted between two windows of her neat brick bungalow, a packed Denver carpark or a peak-side gas station, complete with enormous sign – there is an inherent, inescapable allure, stemming from the photographer’s aptitude for composition and ability to encapsulate the atmospheric quality of light so unique to the area. 

The American Dream

At its core, the American Dream of the Colonial times surrounded the pursuit of opportunity and the idea that a poor person can become rich and successful through hard work and determination. The Westward Expansion was greatly aided by the American Dream as people rushed west to find gold and riches.

IMAGE ANAYLISIS

This image is a perfect example as the bottom half (foreground) of the image is man-made with human activity objects as humans adapt which ultimately adds these subjects to the image. This contrasts to the top half off the image (background) as it contains natural scenery therefore Robert Adam’s had contained both environmental factors. A significant feature about this image are the lines on the houses contrasting with the round/ not straight lines on the mountains showing clear meaning the houses are man-made and perfectly put together however the mountains are not but as humans we prefer the look of environmental features but housing is a necessity. Another interesting factor is the sun shining creating light highlights on the houses but in the distance dark shades with the clouds making light onto the floor which has an eye catching effect and the success of presenting this considering majority and including of his images are in black and white. You cannot tell what time in the day this is however it is exposed and saturated effectively. Another noticeable feature is the layout and pattern of the housing compared to the free natural scenery which implies the difference between the two main subjects. Normally, photographers take ‘landscape’ photos which your first instinct is that landscapes capture beautiful scenery however Robert Adams in this image captures poverty and cultural views based on the housing but where it is placed.

This image is similar in certain ways. In the background is still obtains natural scenery however this image does not have a significant contrast and exposure of different shades. However, it does have other eye catching features through bright light such as the ‘R’ missing in the word ‘ Frontier’ which potentially could be Adams trying to imply how landscapes have changed and been adapted overtime. It is interesting to note he took a landscape of a petrol station which is also a necessity and a basic need. Adams photographs in black and white and photographs basic needs such as the other image such as living no matter political problems such as poverty. In this image, although it isn’t the first thing you notice it captures the wires across the petrol station which could also signal poverty. This could mean Adams is photographing things that are not the ‘ beautiful’ standards and ugly things in life but makes it look aesthetically pleasing. A large factor to make this is the background of natural scenery and environmental factors. Although from the shop to the mountains it is hard to spot the difference as the shade is almost the same and dark you can tell through the lines and texture. Adam’s keeps the foreground clear through light shades contrasting with dark to keep the main subjects important and impactful with a darker background however it massively creates to the image.

Personally, I really like Robert Adam’s work as he captures unknown ‘ beautiful’ features and makes it look aesthetically pleasing whilst maintaining environmental factors. This brings conceptional and contextual ideas to his images for good reasonings. It creates the idea that his images don’t only say one thing. I like how they are in black and white and how he typically photographs natural scenery with modern subjects which creates contrast within itself and creates a vintage and nostalgic aesthetic. Because he is already contrasting modern and present features he does not have to contrast his shades and use the zone system like Ansel Adams however I do think it would bring more too certain images but may be too much in some to the point viewers wouldn’t know where to look. I also like how they are realistic looking which creates a whole new aesthetic compared to Ansel Adams and sublime etc.

The only reality is the Self and you are That. Why look for anything else? Everything else will take care of itself. You’ve got to abide in the Self, just in the Self.

What is it?

The new topographics are pictures that portray unromanticised views of industrial landscapes, and suburban areas, areas that are not normally given a second glance. Its known as ‘The Man Altered Landscape’. It is the examination of the American Landscape in a new way, instead of focusing on natural and pristine scenery like parks they turned there cameras to more suburban things like petrol stations, freeways etc.

Post-War America

The New Topographics movement in America was an attempt to be “objective” about its survey of the West in post-war America.

Post-war America struggled with

• Inflation and labor unrest. The country’s main economic concern in the immediate post-war years was inflation. …
• The baby boom and suburbia. Making up for lost time, millions of returning veterans soon married and started families…
• Isolation and splitting of the family unit, pharmaceuticals and mental health problems
• Vast distances, road networks and mobility

The Shift

New Topographics represented a radical shift by redefining the subject of landscape photography as the built environment. In the 1920s, Ansel Adams formed an approach to landscape photography that posited nature as separate from human presence. He used vantage points that emphasized the towering scale of mountain peaks, and embraced a wide tonal range from black to white to record texture and dramatic effects of light and weather. What was both novel and challenging about New Topographics was not only the photographs’ content, but how they made viewers feel. By foregrounding, rather than erasing human presence, the photographs placed people into a stance of responsibility towards the landscape’s future—a position that resonated with ecology, the branch of environmental thought that was gaining traction in the 1970s.

The Aesthetics

Within these images, for example Robert Adams images, they used very neutral boring lighting, for example they just used day lighting, such as the sun shining bright in the middle of the day. This wouldn’t give as good of results as sunset or sunrise, and the sun would be very in the middle of the sky, just shining bright, and there wouldn’t be much room for movement, for example when sunset the sky changed shade and colours to orange and pinky sky’s, but during the day the sky would just be bright blue, or a gloomy grey.

Artist References

Robert Adams’s (no relation to Ansel) 1973 image Tract house, Boulder County, Colorado. The photograph pictures a two-story house whose half-timber framing appears decorative rather than structural. Recorded under bright noon sunlight, the house’s shadow barely extends into its grassless yard. The flag on the mailbox is up, perhaps to signal the presence of outgoing mail, but there are few other signs of habitation.

Joe Deal photographed new homes and construction sites in Albuquerque, New Mexico from the steep foothills of nearby mountains. Eliminating the horizon from his pictures, he filled each square frame with a dense patchwork of surfaces: driveways, newly cut roads, empty lots, and expanses of brush yet to be tamed. The effect was that the terrain appeared compressed into flatness, encouraging viewers to study the photographs as if looking at topographical maps.Deal enabled his viewers to consider the cost of rapid growth in the fragile desert.

Who Is He And What Did He Do?

Robert adams was a photographer who documented the damage to the American West, including the extent of it and its limitations. He created over fifty books of pictures, which included both despair of the environment and also hope. his goal as he said “is to face facts but find a basis for hope.” Adams grew up in New Jersey, Wisconsin and Colorado, and enjoyed the outdoor environment with his Father in each of them. When he was twenty-five he was a collage English teacher, and that is when in his summers off he picked up photography, After spending time with his wife in Scandinavia he realized that there were complexities in American geography.

His Works

Within the 1970’s and 80’s he produced a series of books which included- The New West,Denver,What We Brought,Summer Nights- which focused on expanding suburbs along Colorado, books that portrayed the need to development but also the surviving light of the natural world. He also examined humanity’s footprint and nature’s resilience in the wider western landscape. Adams has occasionally published smaller, sometimes more personal volumes. These have included a prayer book set in the forest (Prayers in an American Church). He has sometimes directly engaged civic and political issues as well. A series of photographs at the Ludlow memorial, for example, speaks for organized labor, and another at a protest against the second Iraq war records the suffering that accompanies empire. 

Image Analysis

Adams has used natural daylight when taking tis image, which manipulates the intensity of the sunlight reflecting against the ground. It also looks as if the image is a bit over-exposed, in order to manipulate the burning oil smoke to be as dark as possible compared to its surroundings to show its intensity, and how much damage it is creating. This photo is sharp and infocus, and has a sharp tonal range, using different shades of grey and linking them to emotions. He has laid out the image within a way that the damage to the environment is right in our face while still capturing the environment trying to fight back against this man made damage, he has done this by creating a depth of field where the destruction is right in our faces, but the beauty is surrounding it, we see this when the bug black burning oil smoke is right in our faces, making it very hard to miss, but there is a small tree standing very still to the left of the destruction. His image also relates to a political context, where people were fighting for the burning of oil to be calmed down or stopped all together, this relates to the 1973 oil crisis – In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against the countries who had supported Israel at any point during the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, In an effort that was led by Faisal of Saudi Arabia,^[2] the initial countries that OAPEC targeted were Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This list was later expanded to include Portugal, Rhodesia, and South Africa. In March 1974, OAPEC lifted the embargo,^[3] but the price of oil had risen by nearly 300%: from US$3 per barrel ($19/m³) to nearly US$12 per barrel ($75/m³) globally. Prices in the United States were significantly higher than the global average. After it was implemented, the embargo caused an oil crisis, or “shock”, with many short- and long-term effects on the global economy as well as on global politics.^[4] The 1973 embargo later came to be referred to as the “first oil shock” vis-à-vis the “second oil shock” that was the 1979 oil crisis, brought upon by the Iranian Revolution.– which gives his image a motion, he was showing the people all the many flaws with oil burning, harming the planet, and now also harming people financially. Which turns his image into conceptual art.

who is Ansel Adams?

Ansel Adams was born in 1902 in San Francisco and was a famous photographer in 20th century, as he was well known for his landscape photography as he would capture mesmerizing photos of American’s natural beauty that had been untouched and had been preserved. His most common spots to take pictures would usually be at national parks as it was one of the few places that had kept its natural beauty to capture in west America. Ansel Adams signature style of taking photos for landscapes was captured in Yosemite park. as he captured a picture of a mountain peak using a heavy camera, a tripod and his own additional gear. he visited a place called half dome where he would use visualisation. this would really launch his photography career as would go on to create some memorable photos such as:

‘North Dome, Basket Dome, Mount Hoffman, Yosemite, 1935‘

“Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, 1934“

“Nevada Fall, Rainbow, 1947“

Ansel Adam’s love for the American west came from the fact that he just loved nature. Quoted by Ansel Adams he visited such national parks like Yosemite and Sierra Nevada as they were “coloured and modulated by the great earth gesture”. his first trip to Yosemite was in 1916 were he would start his journey in photography as his father gifted his first camera , an eastern Kodak No.1

what is visualisation?

Ansel Adam’s always said visualisation was when you could see an image in the mind prior to using exposure. as its a continuous project up until the final print. Ansel Adams with some of his friends also created a thing called the “zone system”.

what is the zone system?

the zone system is a chart that ranks numbers from 0 to 10, this could be used to determine. this can be helpful as it could you visualise a photo before you go for your final print to really determine what you want.

Ansel Adam’s camera (kodak brownie) only consisted of two filters: one red and one yellow. for example the yellows would help browns stick out and look better. And the red filter would create an unrealistic look to the image.

Group F/64

Group F/64 was a group that was founded by Ansel Adams that consisted of 7 photographers from the 20th century, their aim was to create “pure photography”. Which could be considered as hypocritical as their work was enhanced before the final image was printed. however this group still created the zonal system which lead to producing some photographers who started to slowly grow into the spot light like Ansel Adams.

Edward Weston, had become far more recognizable for their work, this was shown when he took pictures of vegetables with this one being the most recognizable.

Ansel Adams links to romanticism

Ansel Adams was known for creating some of the most memorable pieces of the 20 century. some would say he even modernised transcendentalism, which is essentially the idea that society is spoiled by the very things they created like massive city’s that are so “brilliant” when they already have brilliant things such as nature with these beautiful landscapes that Ansel Adams is showing off in all his photos. this obviously links to romanticism as some could say this is a similar event to the 18th and 19th century Europe with paintings that artists created.

when looking at the pictures Ansel Adams took you could easily say that his images take inspiration from romanticism as they have many similarity’s.

Edward Burtynsky, born February 22, 1955 is a Canadian photographer and artist known for his large format photographs of industrial landscapes. His works depict locations from around the world that represent the increasing development of industrialisation and its impacts on nature and the human existence. It is most often connected to the philosophical concept of the sublime, a trait established by the grand scale of the work he creates, though they are equally disturbing in the way they reveal the context of rapid industrialisation.

Burtynsky is an advocate for environmental conservationism and his work is deeply entwined in his advocacy. His work comments on the scars left by industrial capitalism while establishing an aesthetic for environmental devastation, the sublime-horrors discussed in a number of essays on the topic of his work.

This image is of a big car park. It shows how many cars there are in one singular car park. I chose to analyse this image because I find it very interesting that Burtynsky chose cars to represent Typography and Anthropocene a lot of the time. This image to me shows pollution and the damage cars and other vehicles are doing to the world. This image is taken from a height and looking down onto a field or grass car park of some sort this gives us a view of how many cars are in this car park.

This is an image is of a lot of cars that are going to be destroyed as they are all damaged, crashed and being used for scraps. I think this image symbolises typography and Anthropocene as cars play a major part in polluting the world. I think Burtynsky captured this image perfectly to show and represent the significant damage that cars do to the earth.

I edited all of these images using Adobe photoshop and Lightroom Classic. I waned to use Ansel Adams as inspiration for my photography because I like to take photos of landscapes as I find they are really emotional, especially black and white, and I felt I could make the image more dramatic through editing them.

Contact sheet:

Before editing:

After editing:

Before editing:

After editing:

This is my favourite image I’ve edited as I like the way the clouds are really dramatic whilst looming over the inky, intimidating rocks. I found that increasing the texture and clarity really helped improve the quality of the photograph as it made the individual details look more precise, instead of blurry. I also increased the dehaze quite a bit to help emphasise the striking affect of the clouds, whilst the sea holds a slight reflection of the sun. Lastly, I decided added a black and white filter called PB11 on Lightroom Classic to help enhance the contrast between the different tones.

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