New Topographics

New Topographics is an influential photographic movement from the late 1970s that focused on documenting contemporary the American landscape. Unlike traditional landscape photography that idealized nature, New Topographics captured urban development, suburbs, and altered environments with a straightforward, slightly detached approach. Photographers aimed to depict the everyday, often mundane, aspects of human-made landscapes, emphasizing their shape, form, and the subtle impact of human activity. This movement challenged romantic notions of the wilderness, highlighting instead how humans shape and coexist with the environment in a documentary, objective manner.