Is there a New Topographics Style?

New Topographics has become a style within itself; it's own means of expression. The objective is to document the human footprint on the American landscape through objective photography.

"I hope that these photographs are sterile, that there's no emotional content." - Lewis Baltz

Yet photography is a subjective medium. All images are composed by the eye of the photographer. All subject matter is termed relevant by one's own preferences. One can even question the validity of using art photography as documentation.

"Documentary? That's a very sophisticated and misleading word. And not really clear...the term should be documentary style. An example of a literal document would be a police photograph of a murder scene. You see, a document has a use, whereas art is really useless. Therefore art is never a document, though it certainly can adopt that style." -Walker Evans

Though my subject matter is the manufactured American landscape, I document objects that resonate emotionally with me. The fragments of my culture are strewn across the landscape, once created by man, now destroyed by him. The present American culture can catch a glimpse of its future, reduced to merely a footprint on an ever-changing landscape. That is my New Topographics style.

From New Topographics

From New Topographics

From New Topographics

From New Topographics

From New Topographics

From New Topographics

From New Topographics

From New Topographics