View allAll Photos Tagged TOPOGRAPHIC
"All of this is hidden from our eye. you can only see it in a photograph..." Henry Wessel
I took this picture in 2022 which conforms to a practice Wessel used. He let his contact sheets sit for years so as to forget the pleasurable subjective aspect of having taken the picture thus allowing for the photo to present itself objectively and he would be seeing it as would a viewer.
Debra Lynch made a decent photograph better with her digital touch. Image was simply bubbles in a blue basin of water I left out doors for thirsty critters. Used a macro lens.
New Topographics photographers utilized document style image making " to provide a format for the emerging ecological consciousness" which was evolving in the 70's.
Indeed many interviews show "they were not environmentalists, but rather they simply were artists making pictures in places that interested them."
Source: New topographics photography, a man altered landscape 1975.
However through their lens we become astutely aware of humanity's and our own personal effects upon nature.
Ok, those were fun, but let's get back to my new enthusiasm:
"topographic" - relating to the arrangement of the physical features of an area.
"new topographics" - photographic movement appreciating the beauty of the banal in human altered landscape
And when I saw that airplane taking off from O’hare I stopped composing and just clicked that red button.
camera: Canon sure shot WP-1
I was extremely lucky with the inherent balance and alignment of the scene. And also with the rhythm of elements. Besides at 8 degrees plus a brisk wind I wasn’t going to stand around composing too long.
A direct unfiltered experience of awareness. More than pictures, New Topographics images were a way of discovering the presence of humans occupation within the landscape.
Ricoh FF 3-AF
Fujifilm 200
SOOC
Back in the 70's there was an expansive Illinois prarie where now stands the Greyhound station at 5800 N. Cumberland ave. As a young boy I would ride my bike out there with my friends and we would wander the prairie and connected woods.
Now it is literally cemented over for miles.
As with my previous photo, I am personal witness to the clash between civilization and nature.
We are all witness to the 'progress' of mankind across this planet.
camera: Canon sure shot WP-1
reference; Henry Wessel jr. "Tuscon" 1974
Shot through a 5N5 glass 3x3 filter
and reverse edited in Photoscape.
Minolta SRT 201
Minolta 28mm 2.8
Ilford Delta 100
Sunny 16
Camera gifted by AnalogBob
Great camera!!! Thanks Bob
Defined more precisely; place specific beauty of untitled locations all over the place.
1/8 sec. hand held - IBIS holding tight
To evidence man's intrusion on nature the 'New Topographic" photographers would use a silent, straight on direct approach in their image structures.
Yes, nature exists everywhere. Even in rural, urban, and suburban places. As it continues to surface for air we push it down below the cement.
camera; home made pinhole 120
SOOC
I was impressed at this location by the constant struggle between man and nature to gain a foothold and advantage in their ongoing battle.
Some sort of structure had been here previously which had been demolished and nature has advanced and regained the lead. While in the background mankind is winning the war.
In the end, the very end, 3 million years from now nature will indeed claim total victory abolishing all signs of humanity.
I got lucky with an expired roll of Svema - Kono Monolit 400. It's high contrast look was subdued by time adding a dullness to this film.
I was looking for that dispassionate simple elegance of the New Topographics.
Minolta X-700
Minolta MD 28mm
Waalhaven, Rotterdam industrial area, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands
facebook | website | maasvlakte book | portfolio book | zerp gallery
© 2016 Bart van Damme
Electric / radio towers are common fodder for New Topographics photographers. Assuming the premise in maintaining the banal I stepped out of their straight forward technique and made this one my own.
An overcast sky was a requirement. Speed and timing were crucial. Yes, several passes were needed to create what I was pursuing. Specifically and exactly what I intended.
Golf and Higgins road, Schaumburg, Illinois
I'm very familiar with this intersection from when I used to drive way way out from our home in Chicago back in the 70's to take a ride in the 'country'. Each corner of this intersection was occupied by forests, open prairies, and farms.
What is left of the Illinois wilderness is that row of trees on the right which runs along a creek. Now a massive suburb.
Through the images of the 8 'New Topographic' photographers I have come to appreciate the aesthetics of landscape which has been brutalized by civilization. Beyond the charming calendar aesthetics we are inundated with their photographs hold a certain indescribable beauty. They also lay witness to the collision between humans and nature. Leaving graphic evidence toward human's intrusion and destruction of the wilderness.
We blame industry for this spreading urbanism, but what I felt even sadder about is the litter scattered along the roadside which is the direct result of each one of us.