ABSTRACT
Black-and-white photography is utilized to clarify unique characteristics, while also allowing the landscape to be easily seen as a set of patterns. Instead of a high-contrast aesthetic, which emphasizes deep blacks and bright whites, a broad spectrum of grays articulates the subtleties of the landscape. The New Topographics’ motivations were to describe from a more objective position. That position was both physical and psychological. The objectivity comes from choosing to make compositions that include multiple features in the landscape, allowing the viewer and photographer to see how those features relate to one another. This objectivity is also achieved from standing at a distance, limiting the ability of the photographer to drastically alter the scene by small shifts in viewpoint. The pivotal New Topographics exhibit was presented in 1975, at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York by William Jenkins, assistant curator at the time.
