America (In photographs)

We touched on a group of photographers called The New Topographics. (a term used by William Jenkins in 1975 to explain the new aesthetic of these photographers). There work shows America on the decline. Black and White images which show industrial sites. Understanding the context of these images, the 1970s was a time of social decline in the western world. It is an historical fact that "The Great Oil Shock" of the 70s saw production of oil decline and impact on western industry. Also, recessions effected global output also. 

"Many of the photographers associated with new topographic including Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Nicholas Nixon and Bernd and Hiller Becher, were inspired by the man-made, selecting subject matter that was matter-of-fact. Parking lots, suburban housing and warehouses were all depicted with a beautiful stark austerity, almost in the way early photographers documented the natural landscape"

New topographics | Tate

Lewis Baltz.

San Quentin Point | The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation

Again, we see work of mundane areas taken in black and white of areas in the United States. interestingly enough, colour film was widely available at the time, but The New Topographics insisted on using this colour scheme. Which gives the images a dystopian, industrial revolution feel. Instead of a modernist, progressive and modernity theme. The New Topographics saw the obvious decline in society and used black and white to emprises this. They also had an  appreciation of industrial machinery and documented this in their practice.